Requiem for a dream
by Vicious94
Summary: Neji doesn't remember a thing and Hinata tries to help, but will she realize her mercy will not be returned? How much can Hinata take before she breaks? Will Neji give their friendship a second chance? Is there a second chance for them at all? Will Hinata find the light or will she be consumed by Neji's darkness? Neji/Hinata, Shino/Hinata
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**

**Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto**

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**Chapter 1: Lost and found**

The night was dark and empty, no stars or moon could be seen beyond the clouded, black sky. The wind was cool enough to chill the bones and the crickets singed like they do every night. Peace rests in the Hyuuga compound where not a soul dares to interrupts its tranquility; The quiet sound of the living statues.

Hinata stirs in bed, irritated that she cannot find sleep in this tranquil, sleep-calling night. Her day had been lacking in rest so she could not understand the source of her restlesness and was growing irritated by her begging burning sight. Until she finally gives up and decides to take a walk in the garden of the Hyuuga complex, first in her garden where she watered the plants, and then after admiring them enough moved on to the branch members garden, it was just as beautiful but was slightly smaller. Yet, she found the atmosphere here much relaxing, maybe because she liked the branch members much more than the main house's.

Sure, there were some that disliked her, but they were minority that heavily resented the main house—which included her cousin, she was certain. While in the main family, she knew almost everyone hated her, even Hanabi. Hinata lets out a loud sigh. And all because of one stupid place she didn't want in the first place, she sure could give it away to Hanabi if she wished, and she knew others wished that as well, but maybe it was her fear or selfishness talking but she did not want to go to the branch house, not matter how much she felt she belonged there, she didn't.

She grabs her forehead as she thinks about it. The curse seal scared her beyond belief, especially when she had seen and witnessed first handedly the pain and abuses it has from the main family. Looking it from that perspective, she could somewhat understand her cousin.

Talking about Neji, it had been good not having him around for the past few days, as mean as that might have sounded, she just…didn't like having him around, which was rather difficult regarding that he is her guardian. He was always better at things, and he certainly made sure that everyone took noticed and bash it in her face. Or maybe he didn't and people just took notice to make her feel inferior.

She spots someone was in the garden with her, the quiet peace had been disturbed. Hinata stands and looks at the origin of the sound, someone was waiting, someone was silently staring at her. Hinata froze in her place in fear, and she finally eased, a little bit, when she realized that the other figure was a Hyuuga.

"Hello?" She calls out sheepishly, no answers—who could answer something they didn't hear? Hinata's voice was as loud as the squeal of an ant. She begins to walk closer to the figure and soon recognizes it to her horror.

"Neji-niisan?" She manages to choke out. Not only that, the man was stark naked before her, not an inch of his body escaped her scanning, sharp eyes, and unwanted parts of her cousin's body beamed out before her.

The man gasps and jumps at her presence, making Hinata feel a touch of pride at making the great Hyuuga prodigy jump…wait, did he just jump?! Taken by surprise? He's a byakugan user! He's Neji out of all people, he wouldn't jump even if the sun was falling on his head. Hinata walks closer to the figure of her cousin and realizes that there's something weird, besides the fact he was going on around naked in the Hyuuga compound. For crying out loud. "Neji-niisan?"

Out of all the things she expected to see in the eyes of her cousin; arrogance, annoyance, anger and hate. She could not have ever expected to see fear. Fear in the eyes of the fearless and feared. Hinata glares at him, at least the more than one reason for him to be arrogant; besides his perfectly shaped, straight nose, hight cheekbones, purred lips, beutiful silk brown hair and milky eyes, his body did not stay behind. His shoulders spread down his neck into his muscled arms, which perfectly slendered down his toned arbs and waist until they reach the arcs of his toned legs. Not only that...that thing hanging between his legs...was certainly...something-to put it bluntly. She lifts her eyes when heat rises to her cheeks.

This must certainly be a joke; Neji is a good actor after all. She looks around and is almost expecting a branch member, or even Hanabi to be hidding in the bushes with a wide smirk on her face. Lovely, just lovely! It wouldn't be out of character for them to do so. The thought of being played for a fool again made her angry. Hinata gains all her courage to speak up to him, she certainly hated being played for a fool. "Neji-san, it's not funny!"

"Whose Neji? Who are you calling? Who are you!?" Yells the older Hyuuga, he begins to back off, his eyes never leaving her figure until he trips and falls harshly on the grass. _Thud_.

"Niisan!?" _What on earth is going on!? _Hinata runs over to her fallen cousin, only to have him pull her down with him and tackle her good, shifting their bodies so she was under him, his hand clasped over her lips to avoid any disturbances from his surroundings. His knees split on each side of her body and his heated face inches from hers.

"Where am I? Why have I been brought here? Speak, woman!" Hisses the man to her ear, inches from her face, his other hand clasping around her throat, as her mouth was finally released from his cold fingers. The younger girl was trembling under him, fear finally taking over. This must be a joke! This can't be happening—yes! A bad dream, a bad dream! Wake up, Hinata, wake up! Hinata snaps her eyes closed and begs herself to return to reality, find herself rolled in her bed like a taco and wake up to see Neji return from his mission safely with his teammates. Yes! Yes!

"Answer me!" Breaks the boy, this time his voice desperate and filled with angst, while his fingers pressing harder to her throat until it hurts. Hinata snaps her eyes open at the pain, her arms move to grab his sides and try to push him off all to no avail.

"N-Neji-san! S-Stop! You're hurting me!"

The man moves his hand to muffle her screams, and tears soon begin to pour out from her eyes. Neji keeps in place, his eyes now lost as was his mind. "Who am I!?" He repeats and this time the pressure of the kunai disappears and the boy rises retreats further from her face, still sitting on her to avoid the only visible person around him. He wanted answers, not a dead body.

"Answer me…" This time his voice was pleading. His hands slowly slide from her lips and Hinata has to take a few sharp breaths to control her gaping and sniffling. She says all she ever possibly knew from Neji; his name, his age and what little she knew about him. She wants to touch him, show him that she doesn't mean harm, but she squelches that thought into oblivion. One single movement would bring her death faster before she could say '_Fox_'. What would Naruto had done?

"Neji—"

"Stop calling me that!" Snaps the man. "You will not fool me!"

"Neji-san, I'm not trying to fool you!"

"Then? What are you doing?!" Slipping into the chaotic mind of the confused man, Neji did not even know his own name which made him enter into panic even further, he couldn't even know what was his age, or what he liked or why he was here in this place at all. The only thing that he could grasp onto was the words of this stranger, yet, how could he trust her?

"I'm trying to help you..." Whispers Hinata.

"Help me with what? You have nothing to help me with!" And it was true, whatever had happened to Neji, was something that could not be resolved with soothing words, he needed Tsunade's help.

"Help to show you the truth!" She tries again to calm the older, stronger boy on top of her, cautiously moving with her words and actions to not alert him- Any wrong action or word and hell was certain to break loose. It was best if she feeded him with little information and knowledge for the moment, too much might crush his delicate mental state. "I can show you…if you let me..." Mutters Hinata. There had to be something to make him realize or at least lower his hostility. The Byakugan! No...its activation would make him hostile, and perhaps asking him about it would not be a smart move, considering that he was stronger than her in almost every way. She would need to keep it simple.

The man remains silent, as if considering her proposal. He looks back at her fiercely, silent threats shooting out, enough warning for anyone smart enough not to move against him. Neji was never a trusty person and would always be one that didn't like to be played for a fool. "Fine…" The boy stands from her, not moving his sight from Hinata as she slowly rose, trying not to alert the already paranoid boy. "Where are we anyways?"

"The Hyuuga complex, just beyond the outskirts of Konoha. This is your home…Neji-san." _The Branch family complex._She spots the boy's eyes widen. She leads him through the branch family complex, trying to be as quiet as possible. There was no need to make the anxious boy any more nervous and dangerous than he already was or to alarm any other Hyuuga members. Finally, they stop in front of a door, where she stretches her fingers and touch the door, she remembered coming by many times in her youth. "Your room…should be….here."

White walls, contrasting the dark wood of the furniture, and mixing with the white bed sheets of the single, lonely bed.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn't realized how much nostalgia this place brought her. Each side, each corner, each decoration describe the remnants of a man that hadn't bothered to understand, a man that had hidden his emotions behind a locked room. He lost his mother, then lost his father and...even lost his younger brother.

She wanted to understand, she trully did, but how could someone with so much difference attempt to find a interval? First of all, she hated her father, hated her sister and had been too young to remember her mother's face. Whatever she loved, was outside the Hyuuga; Naruto, Shino, Kiba, Kurenai-sensei...her friends were scarce but they were more than enough to ensure her happyness, or at least cloud her away from bitter reality.

"This...is my room?"

Hinata spots a sense of sadness in his milky eyes, it was strange to see him with such bewilderness, she was used to his stoicness. She heads for his wardrobe and pulls out a set of clothing, feeling rather embarrased as she went through his underwear, socks, shirts and trousers, everything about them defined Neji, not only in style but in a strange bitter sweet smell; the scent of recently cut grass.

She hands them over to him, but he discards them and Hinata attempts to get him dressed, she had had more than her share of undersired snap shots and she was more than certain that the Hyuuga wouldn't appreciate having the Hyuuga prodigy showing off his little elephant dangling around. She tries to at least make him wear boxers, and he declines to her dismay and has to deal with looking at anything BUT him.

She guides the boy into his bathroom, where a mirror meets their gazes and she showed Neji. "Your eyes and my eyes are the trademark of the Hyuuga, Neji-san." Neji moves closer to the mirror and touches it, as if expecting the reflection to warp or change. He backs off. His hands move over to his eyes and he touches his face.

"White eyes..." He says, more to himself than to the female with him. "This can't be true, these eyes...they are not normal!"

Neji looks dumfounded around the room, moving to the bureau where he had the photographs of his teammates; Tenten, Lee, and Gai-sensei. He looks through his family pictures; his mother, father and cousins. He backs off until he crashes with Hinata, she whelps by the sudden act and the Hyuuga prodigy turns to face her. Yes...he was this man...but why?

"I don't remember this! Nothing at all!" He hisses and holds Hinata's shoulders, involuntarily shaking her back and forth. "Why can't I remember?! Why!?"

He finally stops and falls on the edge of his bed, Hinata backs off as much as she could from her cousin. She was certain, he had gone mad. Next time, who knew what he was going to do to her! Maybe even kill her thinking she's an enemy. Hinata's eyes flutter to the doorway and back to him, her movements slowly guiding her to the exit when she stops at a sound.

She turns on her heels and slowly walks over to her cousin, slowly and cautiously until he gives her consent to sit next to him, and her fingers sliding over pat him in the leg, he was hariry but no considerably, just enough for her soft fingers to play and stroke them, and the other to slowly move to his head and caress it, just like she knew it would calm him down.

"Neji-san….." She whispers and the boy keeps hiding under the shadows, silently whimpering. It was so strange to see him cry, or to show any emotion at all. Everything was…so strange, and just seeing him sad made her sad too. "I…I don't know why you can't remember anything…but I-I know someone who can help."

"You think?" Tsunade would defenetly know what was wrong with him, for now, she could do nothing without making much ruckus.

"Y-yes." She had never been asked her opinion or have so much responsibility over someone. It felt somewhat good."But, we'll have to wait until tomorrow…"

"Why tomorrow? Why not now?" Asks the older Hyuuga, the faster he got his answers, the better.

"It's l-late Neji and e-everyone is sleeping." She would have to talk to him as if talking to a child. "Tomorrow morning, I promise we will go."

"Fine." Says the man, finding logic to her words, he cleans his tears rapidly and looks at her with puffy red eyes.

"It's o-okay. Now, sleep…."

"I don't want to sleep." He said almost whining.

"You have too." She soothes him and pushes him back until he was flat on his chest, she tries to back off to go to her room but a grip on her arm stops her.

"Where are you going?"

"I..."

"Stay with me."

"I can't..."

"Why not?" The man narrows his eyes and makes the same expression Hinata was so used to.

Uh, where should she begin? That her father was going to MUTILATE her if he didn't find her on her bed in the early morning, or the fact that she would have to be with Neji for an entire night and wake up, TOGETHER. Or the fact that Neji didn't remember anything and was going nuts and might kill her believing she's an enemy instead of the Heiress he is supposed to be PROTECTING. However, the true reason was that she would faint if she caught another involuntary glimpse of his privates. She just settled with a lame; "I can't."

"No." He says and pulls the younger Hyuuga to his side. Hinata tenses at his side and looks at the ceiling like if her life depended on it. She had to stay awake, as much as she wanted to now; she knew it was for both of their sakes, she needed to be alert. Each deep breath, each sigh, each sound and move he made, she acknowledged them all.

Neji had so many questions and not enough answers, why on earth did he have so much resemblance with this girl? Why was this girl helping him?! Why did he have the urge to push her off?! Why couldn't he remember anything?

Hinata simply stiffens when she feels him on her. What on earth was he doing? She dearly hoped she wasn't like Kiba, she had enough personal space invasion from him, let alone one question lingered in Hinata's mind: What happened to Neji? And how on earth did he make it back to the Hyuuga complex if he can't remember anything? And why on earth her body was throbbing like this?

Hinata lets out a loud sight. This has certainly been an interesting turn of events;

Here she was, with the naked man she disliked the most, sharing the same bed, sleeping together...

Wonderful.

_I bet father's going love this_

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_End Chapter 1_


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

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**Chapter 2: Dismay**

Hinata wakes up at the sound of chirping birds, where she realized she was being stared by a certain pair of innocent wide eyes, inches from her face, his breath mingling over her teasingly, his eyes examining each feature of her face and settled to look deeper into her eyes, and this is when she realized they were unwantedly close and jerks back, crawling backwards until the bed ended for her and she falls clumsily.

Neji peeks from over the bed and looks at her questioningly, the way a dog would cock its head towards the uncomprehensible behavior of its master. He says nothing and Hinata lifts herself to her feet, rubbing her lower back where she'd fallen.

He had watched night fade and dawn rise he saw people walk on around his quarters in such a quiet manner he hardly would have spotted them. The tranquility of the place was still lingering, and the silence and peacefulness of these people was somewhat appealing for him. Hinata stands and catches his attention once again, he lowers himself from the bed and simply stands there. This woman had indeed been telling the truth.

She gives another yelp when she realizes that her older cousin was still naked and was standing at plain sight, as casually as possible. However, unlike last night, the light emphasized and highlighted every possible dark spot she had missed. "P-Put s-s-s-some c-c-clothes on!" Snaps Hinata as she runs again to the wardrobe and begins throwing the cloth into his cousin's pectorals and he remains there until he finally begins catching the clothing being lunged at him and changes in front of her, to much of the younger Hyuuga's dismay. She was still in her pajamas from last night, great! She throbs her temples gently at all the possible outcomes of this night.

First, she had spent her night with her cousin, and it would be obvious no matter what she did that they had spent the night together, and if there was anything the group of quiet shinobi did best than kill, was to spread rumors and gossip like if they were paid to do so. Neji comes back out, looking much like his regular self, for the exception that his expressions were softened behind that broken stoic mask. "Shall we move on?"

"Yes...but first, w-we n-n-need t-to go t-to my room. I-I need t-to change." Explains Hinata. There was no way in hell she was going to put on Neji's clothes! They would need to make a sneaky exit. She holds on to his wrist and pulls him rapidly thorugh the corridors, avoiding any kind of crowd until they finally reached the Main's quarters, to which branch members weren't allowed to be in unless permitted by the elders or her father. But Hinata had no time for that, she had a problem, a massive problem and it needed solving now.

"Neji-san...p-please stay h-here, you can n-not follow m-me inside, so avoid being seen u-until I return. Do. not. Move...please." She whispers nervously as her cousin looks at her blankly. She hides him just before making a leap into the Main House complex. She moved sneaky and quietly, just like a true ninja and made her way into her room through the window where she quickly began to change, brushing down her hair and washing her face all at the same time. She wanted a solution for Neji and fast.

"Hinata." Says a voice and her heart almost kicked out of her throat. "That's a pretty name."

"W-what on e-earth are you d-doing here, Neji!?" She stutters nervously as she covers her body with her little arms. She was expecting her father, but Neji was also an uncertain surprise. She looks at him in embarrasment, he closes the door behind himself and he just stands there, waiting, his eyes not moving from their fixed eye connection, which she breaks after much uncomfortable pressure. "How did you get in without notice?"

"I just followed right behind you." Says the boy cassually.

"Y-YOU WHAT?!" Her throat hurted at the hoarse vibrations in her throat.

"You didn't mention you were a princess." He says cooly, completely ignoring her uncomposed behavior.

"Who told you that?"

"A brat that looks much like you, but shorter, colder and brown hair. She wasn't very happy in me being here, I could tell, but she took me here nonetheless after asking if I was here to see Hinata-sama, she was rather rude actually, she ordered me around as if I were a dog. Nonetheless, here I am."

Hinata wanted to slam her forehead to the wall. _So much for discretion. "_I-I t-t-told you not t-t-to follow."

"Really?" Hinata blinks and nods. What on earth? There was an untolerable, awkward silence between them. "What should I address you, then?" He cocks his head. "Hinata-sama sounds like an old farts-"

"Hinata-chan is fine." This was getting weirder by the moment. Neji asking her permittion for something? Prf.

Hinata almost had the urge to giggle at his childish response as she sways her shirt over her head and trouser up her waist, combing her hair and shoving some cold water into her face to alarm her senses again, and another splash to make sure this really wasn't a dream. She takes a couple of deep breaths before the two of them head out the door, walking as casually and relaxed as they cpi;d, alarming the guards that she would head into town with Neji in case anything was needed from her. The guards nodded in acknowledgement and a lot of confusion, when did Neji come inside? And the two cousins hurried into town.

**OoOOoOOOoO**

Hinata resisted the urge to tap her feet, poke her fingers and hum at the same time. Neji had been with Tsunade for two hours now, and from the frown Tsunade had made before taking the reluctant boy with her it made her a bit anxious. Neji had to be drugged before taken in as he would not willingly have anything done to him.

She hadn't reported to her family, more like she had made sure to avoid them for the day, however, she knew the news would arrive one way or another, She sighs, she didn't want to be the one to let father know. Fortunately, Tsunade had already sent word for the Hyuuga complex and Hinata knew that it would be about a few more minutes before she would be suffocated with the pressence of her family.

Tsunade finally comes out from the room and Hinata stands to her feet immediately. "H-how is he?"

"There is nothing wrong with him...physically nor mentally that the scans could pick up."

"T-then...what c-caused this?" Asks Hinata.

"I believe we can answer that for you, Hokage-sama, Hinata-sama." The two women look over their shoulders to come face to face with Team Gai; they were a mess, they were covered in bruises, dirt and blood and their eyes hanged as if they hadn't had days of sleep and their skin was paler than Hinata, but to summarize it all, they all looked worn out and begging for rest. It had been Gai who spoke, and even he seemed to have had his fire of youth extinguished. "During our mission, we were encountered by a group of shinobi from Iwakugure. They shared the same interest in the forbidden scrolls . We confronted them once before the acquirement of the seals, and prepared to head back, but just before our arrival, we were ambushed by another group of Iwa, nothing we couldn't handle, however things turned around quickly when backup arrived."

"Okay, so?" Says the impatient Tsunade. "That doesn't explain Neji's memory loss."

"What? We are talking about memory loss? I thought-"

"Neji was found in the Hyuuga complex by Hinata-sama with no memory of himself or anyone for that matter." Explains Tsunade.

"That's it?" Asks Gai.

"Yes." But his question certainly made the Hokage irk an eyebrow; _Were they hoping something?_

"That's...youthful news." Simply sighs Lee, and Hinata looks confused, her eyes begging for an answer.

"What he means to say is that we lost contact with Neji three days before when escaping from the ambush." Explains Tenten. "We sent word to Konoha just in case he got there before us, when we got no word we kept on searching and were unsuccesful, so when we got word that he was at the hospital we returned at once."

"We were relentlessly attacked by the enemy, Neji was severely wounded when he blocked an attack for Lee, a double sword stab in the lower right abdomen and the left shoulder, then had a dislocated shoulder." Lee lowers his face in shame, Gai pats his shoulders comfortingly, and Tenten keeps talking. Hinata blinks perplexed, Neji had no wounds, she had seen every part of his body and there was not a single scratch on him. "We also wish to report that the seal is intact and the mission was a success."

"Congratulations." Says Tsunade, at least there was an upside to the situation. She takes the heavy scroll from Gai's arms and drops it by her side. It was about half her body size and rather thick. "You are dismissed."

"We are staying." Tenten affirms. Tsunade gives a sad smile.

"Tenten-" Repeats Tsuande and pats her back, giving soft comforting circles around her shoulder blades as the young weapon masters fought any tears threatening to pour out. "Go rest. You are all tired from the mission, I know you care about Neji, but I can assure you that he is in good hands."

Tenten lowers her gaze, nibbling her lower lip. It was more than obvious she wants to stay, but Lee puts a comforting shoulder, the two teenagers exchanging glances, having a conversation only known to them and she nods and walk away saddened.

Gai and Tsunade exchange looks to which Gai gives his stereotypical thumbs up and leaves behind his two youthful students. Hinata watches them understood why they didn't want to leave, they were his friends and sensei, after all. She would be doing the same if it was Shino or Kiba's case. But, what she couldn't understand was; why was she still here? She wasn't Neji's friend, nor did they get along, they hardly talked to one another since the death of his brother, three years ago and they could hardly have a proper conversation. They had every reason to be as far away from one another, hate each other, yet here she was.

"But Tsunade-sama-"

"Yes, I know, his body is in perfect condition, as if nothing happened but that's exactly the problem. I will tell them when they have rested, they have enough worries for today." Mumbles Tsunade as she pokes her nose bridge. "Maybe its best if we question him, see how far his memories reach."

Hinata nods, not really having much comments about the incident. What could she say? She had found her older cousin in the garden, lacking in memory and clothes with no knowledge of himself and little to none about his surroundings.

Life was sure full of unexpected surprises.

**OooOOOOoO**

"I already told you; I don't remember!" States Neji once again to another of Tsunade's questions, her patient running thin. One could understand, they had been in the room for the past hour, and still no answers.

"If you didn't know anything, then how did you find your way back into the Hyuuga complex?"

"I-I don't know!" Yells Neji, slamming his large hands on the table and towering over the older woman, startling everyone in the room. He senses the tension of the ANBU and shinobi surrounding him and he sits back down, brushing a hand thorugh his long hair. "I-I don't know. I'm sorry."

Hiashi, some of the elders and Hanabi had finally reached the hospital, and had been directed to the back of the room with Hinata, where all of them were silently watching and listening to the line of questionings. Hinata could see how Hiashi wanted to interrupt, after all, having a Neji that could remember nothing was a great advantage.

His hate for the main family was gone, his potential was certain to remain as Tsunade reasured that his mucle memory remained intact, and this was the perfect opportunity to make him become not only a magnificent, potential Hyuuga, but an emotionless weapon. The simple thought of it makes Hinata swallow down the tight knot in her throat.

_A weapon...No one deserves to be used in such manner; Not Naruto, nor Gaara, or any of the Jinchuriki's, no one...not even Neji. _She looks at the desperate figure of her cousin, trying to remember anything. How feeble and weak he looked in these moment and how that transformed into something obscure and bloody.

"All I remember is darkness and silence and then...I saw light and someone call for me. I didn't know back then who the person was or who was being called but I ran after it and when I realized it, I was here."

"You speak in past sense, so do you know who called you?"

"Yes."

"Who was it?"

Neji shakingly lifts his eyes and his head turned slightly to search his target, everyone turned to follow his line of sight until it landed on the young Hyuuga Heiress. "Hinata called me." Hinata bundles up against the wall and hides her face from any eyes, wishing that she could turn invisible or be swallowed whole by the ground. What was he on about? "However..." All attention goes back to Neji. "There are two Hinata's though..."

"What do you mean?"

"One was kind, soft and caring and begged me to come back to her arms, that she did not want to be alone." He explains flatly. Hinata's jaw drops and her eyes go so wide they could have rolled of her eye sockets. What? If there was anyone she would want in her arms Neji was defenetly not a candidate. "The other...the other..." He died down.

"Neji?"

Neji begins to move in his seat, as if uncomfortable whilst one hand moved up to his head and massage his temples, his nose furrows and his eyes narrow. His fingers go back down to the hard wood of the Hokage's desk. _Tap. Tap .Tap_

_"_Neji..." Silence. _Tap. Tap. Tap._

"What about the second voice, Neji?" Asks Tsunade, trying to pull him out of his trance. _Tap. Tap. Tap._

"She-" He begins and quiets down again, taking several gulps. _Tap. Tap. Tap._

The only sound is his relentless tapping to which rapidly began to surprisingly...irritate her.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap_

"Neji!" Neji's head twitches and his eyes meet with Tsunade's, breaking him away from his trance. "Continue." Orders Tsunade, her voice firm yet comforting and smooth. Neji removes his hands off the desk, ending his nervous tapping, clears his throat and slowly regains his composure.

"She said their deaths would be our freedom...she said...she said... -AH!" His hands move to his head and he begins whimpering, grunting in pain, his veins popping out clearly on his skin, swollen, his face red until he finally slips off to the floor. He had lost counciousness. Hinata moves from her rank and kneels to his side, her hands snaking under his body and helping him up, when suddenly she realized the man had regained counciousness and with one harsh pull breaks any contact from her, making Hinata fall back by the impact. She was helped up by the ANBU.

Hinata's arms swell and feel cold once again as she returns to her place confused. The tips of her fingers tingling with the warmth of his skin. His move had been so harsh that it had even taken her by surprise, after all these years of that treatment she thought she'd grow used to it. No. She expected nothing more from Neji.

Neji seats himself in place, declining any possible help from anyone, in his spot his calloused hands move to his face and he removes the crimson blood.

"Neji, are you alright?" Asks Tsunade and the man doesn't respond, he doesn't even bother to look at her, instead, his eyes were fixated on a spot somewhere on the corner of the room. His eyebrows knotted together, his nose furrowed and his lips purred into a straight, thin line. There was a pregnant pause. "Neji." Still, no response.

"Hyuuga Neji!" Repeats the Hokage, slamming her hands harshly on the desk, and the man finally turns an icy, annoyed, arrogant glare at her. "Whose deaths?" Asks Tsunade trying to get back on track of the interrogation. Slow, and utter, horrid silence filled the room before Neji spoke again.

"Yours." His tone of voice changed, somewhat vicious, malicious. A small smirk forming on the edges of his lips, his Byakugan slowly forming around his eyes, and before Tsunade could even gasp Neji had already thrown the desk on her, moved on to the ANBU to disrupt their chakra flow, leaving them to fall like bags by him, moving faster than lightning as he disables most of the shinobi surounding him and takes one of the ANBU's sword out of its sheath and throws it at Hiashi, determined to go through his head with unbelievably precision. Hiashi had no time to move or to even blink before it finally made contact.

Blood splurts all over the floor and shrieks flood the air.

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_End of Chapter 2_

**Please Review! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow this certainly took a while. I really thought I was going to loose it (blame authors block) for this one because literary I had no song that could inspire me, and that's essential for me, but then I heard this awesome song: **

**You're going down- Sick puppies**

**Bam. Just love it. I warn you, the beginning is a bit meeh, but I like how it ended. I apologize for the waiting.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own naruto**

**Warning: Violence ! **

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**Chapter 3: Confusion**

"How's she doing?"

"Not well. I can barely tell if she's going to make it."

He nods and hesitates a little. "What about Neji?"

"He's still in lockdown interrogation with ANBU and Tsunade-sama."

"And?"

"No luck."

"Shit…Neji wouldn't do anything like this, there must be a reason."

"There is, but until we know how to revert its effect we can't do much."

"Brainwash?" He asks.

"We don't know. "

"Where's Hiashi?"

"Back at the Hyuuga complex…they're trying to come to a conclusion what to do with Neji if _she_ dies."

"She won't." Says the boy determined.

"Naruto—"

"Where is her room, her sister is with her, right?"

"Of course." And Shizune leads the boy through the hospital corridors; it was the best way to avoid the blond from making a ruckus.

**OooOooO**

Neji and Tsunade bore their eyes into one another, trying to burn holes on each other's skull. "So you're just going to sit there in silence? Should I take your silence as an answer?" Tsunade asks, she was really losing her sanity and patience with the Hyuuga prodigy. It was a good thing ANBU were with her, just in case she tried to make him talk the hard-way.

"I will ask you again, Hyuuga. What do you gain by murdering Hiashi?" The man answers with a quiet, defiant, amused glare. "Do you realize the course of your actions, the danger you've put your own cousin in?"

"Too bad." He scoffs.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" The boy looked at her again with a glare that showed all his hate and contempt.

"Pardon me, what I meant to say was; I hope the bitch gets a slow death for getting in my way."

"Your life is hanging on the line, pal, her life is parallel to yours, so you'd better wish on your father's grave she doesn't die." The man seems indifferent; Tsunade lies back and tries another approach. She remembers the chunnin exams, the ordeal with Iwa—ah yes. "Neji, what would your father say? He died protecting the main house, what would he say if you attempted to kill what he spent his life protecting?"

"I swore on my father's grave I'd kill the one responsible for his death." Snaps Neji. "His death is their fault, he never wanted to die, he never would have died to protect them; he _hated_ the main house. So you can shove that big talk about my father up your ass—"

He didn't get to finish as his face meet the might of Tsunade and the roughness of the wall containing him. "Freaking smartass." Bickers Tsunade and cracks her knuckles and leaves the unconscious prisoner, in an untamable mood. "Alert me once he's awakened." She needed a break, and a dozen of sake bottles didn't sound that bad.

She went over to her office and pulled a secret compartment drawer to reveal her hidden alcohol reserve, to which she took one bottle and immediately started drinking from it. This small moment of peace felt like heaven. But she was far away from getting a break, she needed to check on Hiashi's daughter, who meddled on the line of life and death, and she made her way to the room groaning in pure annoyance when she heard a recognizable voice over the other side before she slid the door open and found Naruto, Shizune, Hinata and Hanabi.

"Naruto! What on earth are you doing here?!" She roars, before adding. "And for kami's sake shut up, this is a hospital not a madhouse!"

"Old Granny!"

"Why are you so happy about?"

"I'm just glad Hinata is alright."

"T-thank you, N-Naruto-kun, but y-your concern w-was u-unnecessary." Says the girl before turning her eyes to look at her younger sister, she was in bad shape, really bad shape. If only things would have been different, if she had reacted differently… The sword had gone through her rib cage and damaged her lungs, when she used her own body to interfere with the attack

Hinata tries to set the sight aside, it had been horrible, blood was everywhere, Hanabi was gurgling in pain by her father's feet, and Neji was tackled by a few ANBU when he attempted escape, and dragged to prison, not before he turned to Hiashi and Hinata and pointed at them maliciously. _'You're next.'_

Hinata shivers when the words echo in her mind again, he had really meant it and she knew it well enough and it made her nervous to no end. She left the hospital when she was called back to the Hyuuga complex…to hear the final decision of Neji's fate. She didn't know what to say or think on the matter, but she was sure her decision wouldn't be taken…when had it ever?

"Hinata-chan!"Calls a voice and Hinata immediately recognizes it as that of her best friend.

"Kiba-kun, Shino-kun."

"We heard what happened, are you okay?"

"Y-yes…"She looks down. "Hanabi-nee-san was not as fortunate…"

"I'm sorry…" Says Kiba awkwardly and Akamaru whines and purrs against Hinata, liking her playfully. "I am glad you're alright though, when we heard about it you have no idea how scared we were, right Shino?"

"We heard Neji went on a rampage…and as we were told you were with him we feared for your life." Shino explains, he smiles slightly. "We are glad to see you are fine. This must, nonetheless, not be any easier for you." Hinata shakes her head in honest truth.

"Don't you worry, you've got Shino, Akamaru and me to be with you. You know you don't have to keep this all to yourself you know, that's what friends are for."

Hinata smiles bitterly, friends weren't always with one; there were things that would have to be faced alone…and those types of decisions and situations were the ones that scared her most. She never liked taking decisions, the simple idea of having one decision alter the lives of others was…excruciating—what if they didn't like it? What if they despised it?

Guess that's what really took to be a leader; a pair of big balls—to be blunt. And Hinata lacked those pairs exactly. One can't please everybody…that's why there's always conflict, indifference, intolerance and pain. Humans simply can't understand each other.

She arrived at the meeting, bowing to the elders present before she took her place by her father, her head low to hide her face from the despicable glares others were giving her. She could read it in their eyes—why hadn't she been the one to intercept the blow, why couldn't her place with Hanabi be switched?

Hinata tightened the hold in her fists until her knuckles turned white.

"And at the turn of events and discussing the situation with the rest of you, I have come to the conclusion that Neji shall be punished with death." Everyone in the room nodded, but Hinata couldn't help to feel the weight of the words, she slowly rose her face to look at her father, who could tell her anxiety and waited for her to speak.

"I don't t-think he d-deserves d-death, father." All eyes landed on her.

"What?!" Hisses the other with disbelief, Hinata cringes but holds her ground.

"It's not his fault!" She defends again.

"He tried to murder us, he threatened you, Hinata. How daft can you be to not acknowledge the threat your cousin gives to us all?"

Hinata knew how stupid her opinion sounded right now. But she knew that as much Neji hated the main family he wouldn't do such thing…he was incapable of it. She knew something was done to Neji, Neji isn't himself and she wouldn't let the manipulation of others affect another victim. Hinata and Neji might not be in the best terms but that didn't mean she should hold a grudge against him; she wouldn't allow herself to let another face injustice.

"I…I don't think he deserves death." Is all she says again, this time to herself.

"Neji has been trialed guilty and will die at breaking dawn."

"Father—"

"Enough Hinata, I will not hear your foolish protests." He snaps and Hinata hunches back to her place. "As for all branch families, they shall have their seals activated."

"What?!" Demands one of the Branch elders. "Hiashi-sama you can't possibly punish us for Neji's wrong doings!"

"Neji is part of the branch family; he defied our orders and laws, what is there to stop any more from you doing the same? You shall all have your curse seal activated for five minutes after Neji's execution."

Hinata gulped and could look at the fear in the branch members present at the decision. She kept quiet nonetheless and couldn't be any happier when this horrid meeting was done for and she left for her own room.

That night she could hardly sleep and day light took forever to arrive, but that eternity in the darkness allowed her to look into depth at matters, consider, think, plan, and dispute.

Maybe her father was right, maybe Neji does deserve death, it would be the safest and wisest decision.

But Neji isn't himself, something was done to him and whatever it was its making him do this…Neji wouldn't do this…no matter how much hate he feels towards them…he wouldn't…

But he had tried to kill them and if given a second chance he might kill them!

Neji deserved a second chance…

Whatever was done to Neji…it might be permanent…

Neji…Oh…She couldn't decide…it was a fight between her morals and duty. What was right and what may be right.

That morning she went to check on Hanabi again, her health was rapidly improving— thanks Kami—and Tsunade calculated that Hanabi would be back to conscience within a weak. Hinata felt relief as for the same time she felt regret…how would this event turn out between them? She didn't know…but she remained by Hanabi's side, holding her hand and talking to her as if she were awake, talking about their childhood, their laughs, their plays and their fights and how it all started to fade with time, how she yearned for those times of bliss and ignorance back.

Being a child is fun, back then the world was too complicated for them to understand it or even be bothered to consider it. Everything was smiles and fun, and that slowly disappeared while becoming an adult.

The door slid open and Tsunade entered the room. "T-Tsunade-sama?"

"Hinata, Neji has awakened…and he's asking for you." Hinata averts her eyes, she didn't want to face him… she was considering on rejecting it when Tsunade spoke again. "He's changed again…"

Hinata perks up, she looks at Hanabi for a last time before asking Tsunade what she meant.

"He doesn't remember what happened, he's confused and won't talk to anyone who is not you. "

Hinata played with her fingers nervously, she glared at Tsunade and nodded and followed the older woman through the corridors into the underground prison, where they walked and walked until they finally reached a door where two ANBU guarded the door, they both arched and let her through, but she doesn't move, instead she stretches her arm out and incites Hinata to go in.

Hinata does as asked and as soon as she did the door was closed behind her, she takes a few deep breaths and approaches the man hidden in the darkness. "Neji-niisan?"

"Hinata-sama…" The man remains in the darkness as if scared the light would burn him. "Why am I locked in here?"

"Neji…" how could she say this? You attempted to murder my father but instead mortally wounded my younger sister and now you're being trialed in the Hyuuga complex for betrayal. Lovely, nice and simple, however, she couldn't bring herself to say the words. "It's c-c-complicated…."

Neji nods in understanding and returns to stare the floor. "I don't remember what I did, but I know it's bad."

Hinata doesn't answer, what could she possibly say that wasn't a lie? Silence is the best she could offer. "You really don't remember anything?"

"No… it's like in a dream…you don't realize anything's wrong until you actually wake up…but the thing is…Hinata-sama…I don't know if I'm awake yet." The man comes out of the shadows and grasps Hinata's arms as if making sure she's real. "I feel weird…dizzy and strange. I see things…they are so alike to the real world that I no longer can tell them apart. I hear voices when I'm lost in my darkness, they tell me to do stuff…I really…I really don't know what's happening…Is this a dream? Please tell me it's a dream….No… I don't understand…this is all so….complicated."

"Neji-niisan calm down…" She whispers and Neji releases his hold of her.

"Hinata…I'm scared…" Whispers the other, and Hinata feels pity. "I don't know what I did or what will happen to me…" Neji falls to the cheap bed, hands over his face. "I…don't want to die…" Hinata walks up to him and sits by his side, but still a gap between them, and Neji looks over to her, his eyes puffy with confusement and sorrow. "There are so many questions but no answers…Hinata…will you help me?"

"Neji…I don't know if there would be time…"

Neji understood what she meant. "Do you think I will find answers when I die? Find some happiness?" Hinata tried not to falter…but Neji was making it so hard. Why did he have to make it so hard? Why did she have to care?! Why…? "Do you think I'll find it."

"I-I d-don't know…"

"I don't know either."

"_I _don't know…b-because t-that's for you to decide…niisan."

"How can I choose, when my destiny is decided?" He touches his forehead, where he traced the curse seal with his fingertips; Hinata takes his hand into hers, and looks at him straight in the face. This was a first for both of them, they'd normally avoid each other in every possible manner…yet here she was.

"We are equals… remember you are no lower than me, nothing can define change…not even that seal…you have control over your actions as everybody else. You have the right to choose, N-Neji."

"It seems that I have little to choose from now…" He says almost bitterly. "At least…let me apologize…for whatever I've done…I must not have been a very good person. But at least in these remaining hours…I'd like to at least do some amends…I'd at least die like a man instead of a monster." Neji stands up, releasing his hold on Hinata and walked to the other corner of the room. "You can leave Hinata…I've got some praying to do…" He takes a deep breath. "I hope you find that happiness you talk about, that would make me very happy."

The door opens and Tsunade calls Hinata back and Hinata slowly makes her way out, looking at Neji's form for the last time before the door was locked behind her.

**OooOooO**

Neji was cold and the thin blankets given to him were nothing but a disturbance, therefore he started pacing his way back and forth in his tiny cell. He had asked forgiveness to the gods for all his actions, he apologized to Hinata…the only person he truly felt he needed to apologize too…she was so sweet and caring it was painful to watch her suffer….he felt ready yet why was he so anxious?!

He didn't fear death as much as others normally did. Unlike many he no longer felt a connection to this world, he felt empty and cold and alone…had he been feeling like this all his life? It was painful to try and imagine his life before his 'memory loss', he was feared and hated yet no one said anything because he had power…What a miserable truth to learn. He didn't fear death what he feared was what awaited him…was there really a heaven, a hell? Or would he simply be reborn like a flower in winter and spring? Or would his soul walk aimlessly around this world like a ghost?

What did people like him face at the end of their lives? He shudders at the thought.

He hears footsteps approaching, Neji stands up and looks at the door. Was it time already? He couldn't really tell, he'd lost perception of time in this cave. The door clicked open and Neji's eyes grow wide as plates.

"Hinata-sama?"

"Shhh…" She muses and runs into the cell and quickly ties Neji's hair up and gives him the ANBU mask and a cloak and put one of the sleeping ANBU inside, covered by the sheets of the bed and make for a run for it. "I'm going to go out first, you follow me from there." She says quickly and leaves the Hokage building, avoiding anyone and anything as she then started making her way out of Konoha sneakily before she finally made her stop a few meters away from the gates and waited patiently. A shadow landed by her, so silent that she hardly acknowledged its arrival.

"Hinata-sama…is this wise?" He asks as they both leap into the air further and further from the village. "Won't your co-operation in this be judged?" Neji stumbles a bit in his words to say the following. "Is it wise to let me out?" Hinata looks over her shoulder, and looks back to the front. She didn't know how to answer that question herself, but there was no going back now. In a few hours Neji would have been killed…this seemed the best option but she never considered what would happen if the _other_ Neji came out. "I was there for a reason…" He muses on, and Hinata discretely checks her pouch—she had a few explosive tags and kunai. Good.

She tried to shake those thoughts away for the moment as they finally stopped for a break.

"I'm going to look for wood." Says Hinata and Neji nods and warns he's going to scout out. Hinata didn't really care if Neji returned or not, she had planned to just would guide him to the nearest village and make it back before breaking dawn—that would be enough for Neji to figure things out for himself, he's a grown up…and a genius for that matter, she was sure he could handle himself without her help. After all, Neji wasn't her, he was completely independent.

Hinata picked up a few fallen logs and started making her way back to their meeting point when suddenly someone appeared behind her, took her head with its arms and pulling her back until she was pressed against its body. She gasped as her hands made their way to pull off her attacker.

"You know, you've got guts, or maybe you're as stupid as you look. Whichever it was it doesn't really matter, you'll die anyways."

Hinata trembles but sets for slamming her elbow into his gut, forcing release and she runs, she didn't care where as long as it was far from Neji. She activates her Byakugan to keep a radius but before it could happen Neji threw her off and she feel harshly down the trees, rolling back to her feet again and threw a kunai to the incoming shadow all deflected by his Kaiten.

Hinata grits her teeth as Neji comes to light under the moon, Byakugan activated and taken his fighting pose. He looked so fierce yet so beautiful under the moonlight, his eyes complimented with its light and his hair contrasted it completely, and the moon soothed his factions and his surroundings and Hinata thought it was like watching a ghost—so beautiful yet so sad.

"Why a-are you d-doing this!? W-Who is doing this to you?!"

"I have my own reasons. And Hinata...why don't you take a hint? I'm doing this by my own will." Neji says mockingly. "This isn't even worth fighting for...but you're a little petty shit that I can't ignore." His eyes shoot out their threatening intent. "You'd better run, it's the only thing you've ever been good at." Snaps the other and his cousin takes a deep breath before she takes the same pose, Byakugan fierce in her eyes.

If she ran where could she go? She couldn't hide; at least if she dies she could have an honorable death in battle.

"I'm done running, Neji…" She manages to suck up little bravery than she actually felt. One of them was going down.

"At last. I could say I'm proud, but I really don't give a damn." He spits out, his words poisonous like a rattle snake.

The cousins didn't waste any longer to lunge at each other and attack, palms against palms, striking without any restrictions of any sort, blood against blood, releasing their anger, their hate and remorse each blow growing fiercer and fiercer by moment. Sweat trickled down Hinata's forehead, Neji was much stronger and way faster than her, forcing her to fall to defense where Hinata made sure to avoid any of Neji's fingers— she couldn't let him block her chakra again, if she lost focus and he accomplished his task she would be nothing more than a sitting duck.

Neji could see she was growing tired and began increasing the speed of his attacks and managed to get a small opening—but that was all he needed—as he headed on for the attack, ready to strike at Hinata's stomach with full force when Hinata kicked his sheen forcing his pose of balance and sending his strike far from her. Hinata rolls back to her feet, a few meters away from Neji recovering her breath. She wasn't going to last long, previous mistake was proof of it.

Hinata tried to steady her breathing, her eyes glued to the analytic eyes of her cousin, trying to decipher what he was thinking but that was the thing about Neji, he never showed anything, he was always so blank…so…so empty. She hated it. Then, Neji left his stance, his head lowered and his shoulders began shaking, Hinata stared at him before she caught his macabre laughter.

"I don't understand. It's hilarious it doesn't make any possible logic!" He said between his crackle, Hinata stared at him confused. Neji took a few deep breaths, placed a hand over his face and when he removed it, it was the same cold statue. "I don't know why father died to save you. You aren't worth anything…my father's sacrifice was useless."

"Neji…"

"The main branch forced his sacrifice, forced his death. It was by your hand this all happened Hinata! My father is dead…because of you!"

"I-I didn't kill your father!" Screams Hinata, the scream costing her the little air she had left. She hunches when her lungs began burning.

"You were the cause of it!" Shouts back Neji, poiting a blaming finger at her. "Your life for my fathers, his life for something that didn't even involve him…his death is because of your weakness, your usefulness! Your father let him die, his own brother! And for what?! A weak, useless, pathetic shinobi like you!" Neji massages his temples before he turns his fierce eyes into her again. "Forgiving you, would be betraying him….I can't forgive…no… I will never forgive you!"

Neji stands and the two of them clash again, Hinata falls, tired and defeated as she watches the figure of Neji tower over her. "See you in hell." He slams her foot down on her; Hinata manages to catch it, her weak limbs struggling to push it back, her struggles forcing whimpers out of her and soon in her despair she began crying. "Cry…do it, it won't stop me. It's all you deserve." He removes his feet and begins to kick her. "Cry all you want…you will never understand my pain. My pain IS greater than yours! Suffer and despair like I did!" *

She didn't know what hurt more, his words, his beatings or the truth? They were all equally painful and they were all tearing her apart in more ways than just physically. Then the beating stopped and Hinata felt so numb and broken that when she tried to speak only blood came out, she started crawling, crawling to the nearest tree and at least be on her feet for the last blow. Neji laughed at her pathetic act.

"You know…I wanted you to be the last one. So you could see how I butchered your family before your eyes, let you rot in fear as you wait for your turn, crumble down in remorse as you know you are the cause of it, and I want you to realize how weak you truly are, how useless and impotent you are when you have their blood in their hands and soon see how I crush your heart with my own bare hands." Hisses Neji, and leans over to catch her ankles.

Hinata cries and begins to kicks his hands off her but she fails as he drags her under him and takes her throat in his hand and pinned her down as his other went to her chest, his eyes scanning her organs before he lands his fingers in between her breasts, just where half of her heart would be hidden, and presses down until it made Hinata scream at the acute pain. "But I guess you'll have to be the first. It's quite disappointing really, but I don't care…you don't deserve to live. Die!"

Hinata knew there was only one way out of this. She could never be able to forgive herself for it but as Neji's hands went down to make her heart explode she did the seal halfheartedly and Neji loosened his grip on her and she kicked him off, dragging herself away from his cringing aching body but she kept the seal steady.

Neji's screams kept on going and Hinata tried to block them out as she leaned against a tree and waited, waited until he was weakened enough to release it, but that seemed to be far as Neji kept on lashing out at her.

"Is that the only way to defeat me? You coward!" He screamed. Hinata simply pants in her place, cleaning the blood running down her chin with her free hand. "You bitch!"

Hinata remained unaffected. She didn't care anymore, she knew she is a coward, she knew she wasn't meant for a shinobi life but that didn't stop her from trying, that didn't stop her from making friends and acquiring some happiness.

She never wanted this animosity between her own family, nor with Neji but still happened.

When Neji's screams and threats ceased and when blood started coming out from his nose, Hinata released the seal and stumbled to her cousin and checked his vitals for the tenth time. He was unconscious…but there was no way she could know if her cousin awakened he'd be the monster she feared or the lamb she protected. She didn't care anymore and rain started pouring on them, Hinata remained kneeled by her cousin, just watching him, uncertain of what to do.

She leaned over his face and looked into his face, her hands going over to touch his curse seal before she sighs. "I'm sorry Neji, I know you won't forgive me, but whatever you do from now on, is for you to decide. You were destined to die…but I don't want you to die…you are family, my family, my cousin. It hurts me to see so much hate between us….I hope there's another way I can ease that hate you have…I hope I can help." She whispers, cleaning the water that had made its way to her eyes before leaning back and dragging her cousin under the shelter of the trees, she shivers and holds her knees up to her chest, before looking over to the unconscious, bloody male. "I hope we can be friends…"

She thinks of the other Neji, so sweet, so innocent and so...so different- she smiles and unwanted sleep takes over.

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TBC~

**Err, review? :)**

**Thanks all for your tips they did really help and of course your support is great. **

*Hyuuga Pein. lol get it, get it? of course you do. **Till next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Warning: Abuse and violence.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto**

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**Chapter 4**

It was warm and the light of the sun felt so good in her skin yet so painful to her eyes…wait—sun?

Hinata chokes as she sits up then winces at the pain in her body. Oh no, it was morning already! She had fallen asleep! Hinata tries to move her limbs but as soon as she took a few steps forth she realizes she is restrained by something cold and metallic around her wrists, and with every move she made she felt her energy drain away.

"Don't move Hinata-sama, these chains drain our chakra." Calls a familiar voice, one that the last time Hinata had heard were followed with poisonous hurtful words. Hinata looked at the darkness surrounding the small gap of light falling on her; she wasn't in the same place as last night, but somewhere very, very different.

She turns her eyes towards her cousin hiding in the darkness, unaware she was glaring at him when inside she was feeling between a mix of dread and horror and she realized she was staring when Neji was constantly glancing at her nervously.

"Hinata-sama…?"

"Neji-niisan…where are we?" Hinata asks, trying to avoid the memories from the night before to swarm in.

"I don't know. "

"Umm…"

"Yes?"

"How a-are y-you f-feeling?"

"Fine." Hinata knew that was a lie, he may not remember what happened but his body certainly knew.

"Neji…"

"My condition is nothing to yours." Hinata was covered with horrid purple black bruises and there was still some dried blood running from her lips, but Neji didn't look his usual neat either. "Did I do that to you, Hinata-sama?" Asks Neji carefully, bitting his lower lip, the man already knew the answer but he dreaded and didn't want to admit that he'd been the one to have done such thing.

Hinata didn't know how she looked but every move, expression and word ached to make, and as much as Hinata wanted to tell Neji it was by his hand, she simply couldn't. She didn't need to, Neji already knew and his dread, remorse and horror increased. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"

"Neji-san…it's fine. I-it wasn't your fault." Tries to soothe Hinata but there was nothing that could console Neji.

"Wasn't it? It was my hands that did it, I may not remember but it was my body that did it. I am to blame."

"Neji—"

"Well, you pale eyes are finally awake." Says a jittery voice. Hinata gasps at the shadows standing before their prison, she looks over at Neji who looked as afraid as she did. Then a woman with blue eyes and brownish hair entered, followed by two other men; one tall with brown eyes and blond hair and the other had green eyes and spiky black hair.

Hinata had never seen them in her life.

The woman took Hinata's face in one hand and examined her from side to side, making analitic, thoughtful faces, and Hinata could tell that the woman holding her hostage was indeed very beautiful, that sort of macabre beauty. "So this is the Hyuuga princess? I dare say she's not a small feat for the eyes; your memories make her no justice, Neji." She looks over to Neji, who was gritting his teeth. "Just like a doll, so delicate and so fragile, it's really surprising you insisted on being a warrior, you seem like you belong in a doll house." Continues the woman and her fingers finally reached one of her wounds in her and just the slight touch made Hinata wince.

"Don't touch her!" Shouts Neji.

"There's no need for me to break her further, you've done that perfectly by yourself, Neji." Snorts the woman and Neji lowers his head in shame. The woman turns her gaze back to Hinata and her fingers trail circles over the heiress eyes. "Such pretty eyes you have, I wonder what secrets they hold." Hinata gulps and the woman grins. "I guess we'll soon find out."

The woman walked over to Neji and strokes the man's face, her long black nails tickling the soft skin, while Neji bored his eyes into hers, and the woman smiled in response. "Pleasant as always aren't you Neji? How's your memory? Remember anything yet?" She asks teasingly, and Neji was turning more and more into a wild, furious animal. The woman chuckles. "You did such a good job, Neji, I'm so proud." She finally says and Neji's eyes widen, while Hinata let out a little gasp as he looked from the woman to Neji. Neji looked very confused as he looked back to Hinata.

"What do you mean…?" She whimpers.

"You mean you don't know?" The woman can't help but let out a cackle. "To be a Hyuuga you are not on the smart side. I guess that only came from Neji." She focuses on Neji once again. "Let me show you." She pulls out a little flute and plays a few notes and her fingers tap Neji straight in the forehead, it was delicate.

Neji faints and Hinata watches in horror as the man that reawakened in that body was the one she feared the most—it was the other one. Neji looks at the woman then to Hinata and lets out a pleased smile, the woman releases Neji's chains and the man straightens himself out and massages his wrists.

"To manipulate a person you need two things; a person they care deeply for and another they despise, one who encourages and the other to infuriate them. In Neji's case it's special because it's the same person; it's you."

"W-What?!" She slowly looks at the statue glaring back at her.

"Is it so surprising now? He cares for you because he's learned to cherish you and acknowledge you as someone different from the Hyuuga. I wouldn't be surprised either, I entertained myself with his logical and sentimental memories of you, how he watched you while you thought no one saw you, how you smiled to others but feared him, and how deep down he was disappointed with the gap formed between you."

Hinata couldn't really believe it, Neji watching her, caring for her? That sounded….ridiculously unlikely.

"Yet, he despises you because you, your weaknesses that cost his father's life, and your simple existence is his weakness, whenever a branch houses or a main branches life is in danger, no matter what connection he has with the branch member he's destined and enslaved to serve you Hinata. He's your slave, destined from the beginning."

Hinata had to swallow hard. She didn't know Neji hated her that much, she knew of their constant animosity but after yesterday's night, she realized that perhaps Neji's hate was beyond her mending. "Then…will Neji remain…like this…forever?"

"Maybe. Neji does have laps where his memories do come back but only do the bad ones so it really is an advantage for me when we try to influence him."

It struck Hinata like lightning. "You are that other person he said he heard…"

"Bingo, not so stupid I see." She says mockingly. "It really wasn't hard, we took his memories and your image and he did our bidding beautifully." She strokes Neji's hair nonchalantly and the older Hyuuga remains stoic as always, uncaring for the other's touch, and that simple sight made Hinata cringe. "But sometimes his hate is far to powerful to overcome, like last night, he almost killed you and that would have ended very badly for him if he had succeded."

Hinata understood, they wanted her Byakugan…but then…why everything else?

"Why didn't you take Neji's B-Byakugan?"

"I came to like him better as a soldier; it would truly be a waste to get rid of him, but you, dear heiress, your eyes are the best from your clain I hear, and hold many, many secrets I want to discover." It made sense, Neji was an exceptional shinobi, turning him blind would give no one any benefits, but she could be easily discarted, what value did she have beside her eyes?

Her eyes begin to tingle, fear and tense expectation taking over her. The younger Hyuuga backs away until her back glues to the cold wall.

"It's still surprising how many times our nation have attempted your kidnapping and failed. Such a puny little thing like you, it's sort of ridiculous. I feel rather honored to have succeeded."

"Have a nice sleep, princess." She mocks and walks off, taking Neji with her who didn't turn once to look at his cousin. They left her there in the darkness and time warped for the worst, seconds felt like hours, and hours felt like an eternity to pass, but as she dreaded it, she was grateful for it, because she knew that within the next hours of her captivity she would become a lab rat.

But that wasn't only it...she had to think of the clan, if they managed to test her eyes than the clan's secrets would be revealed and they would be weak to enemy attack-she couldn't allow that to happen. But in her mind that idea was easier for when her fingertips tried to bury themselves into her soft lids she was incapable of pushing further and destroy her own sight.

A world of darkness, a world of solitude... could she cope with it? To fully depend on others due to blindness? Could she burden her friends in that manner? To ruin her life, her hopes, her dreams...for the sake of the clan?! What kind of choice was this?! It was her duty...as heiress of the clan...but then what would she be once her sight is gone? The Byakugan is the only thing that gives her value...

Hinata retreats her hands and falls in defeat. She couldn't do it...she couldn't...

The light of the day dissappeared and night came in and she knew her time was up. They came back for her and Hinata putted up a futile fight that was easily beaten out of her, and taken to a lab where her limbs were chained to the bed, and at the sight of needles, sharp objects, strange liquids and men and women with gloves and masked faces she couldn't help to scream and put up another fight in despair.

Everything about this procedure promised to be painful...excrutiatingly painful.

"Maybe we should kill her, the eyes will still be functional, no?" Asks one and looks to his partner who vigorously shakes his head.

"No. He said if we kill her the Byakugan would disappear with her death, we need her alive."They fiercely took Hinata's face and opened her eyelids and with a special object her lids remained wide, wide open, and as much as Hianta wanted to shut her eyes and hide, she couldn't, she was going to be forced to see everything. The young Hyuuga begged and cried for them to stop, but her cries were muffled and her senses lost control when a needle was pushed into her neck and the liquid spread like liquid fire over her veins.

Then there was nothing. She felt strange, after that she couldn't remember well what happened, or more like, she didn't want to remember because she could only imagine what horrid things must be going on. She wasn't unconscious but she wasn't awake either, she was lost in her own little world. A world where colors had lost their vitality and sound had died, a place where she searched and floated like a leaf blown by the wind, straddling this dead world within herself, her voice echoing helplessly, bouncing back to her. She sounded so weak, so pathetic…so…useless…

The taste and smell of blood filled her and in the beginning it made her constantly sick, but then after what seemed an eternity of it, she adapted to it and before long she couldn't remember what the smell of grass or taste of cinnamon was like.

There would be times she would awaken from this world, but they were both so dark, empty and neglecting that she never truly knew if she was still awake or asleep. The only thing that could sometimes separate reality and dreams away was the horrid headaches she constantly experienced from the operation.

She wouldn't starve or dehydrate; they pumped food, water and hair through a tube down her throat and it was painful and bothersome, but she couldn't do anything about it. She didn't know how long she'd been here, but the numb feeling in her limbs told her it was enough, and she couldn't wish to die right there. She tried gagging herself many times, or even vomit things out and die of hunger, but there was always someone there to stop her.

One day, it was Neji's turn to stop her but he did it in such manner that he managed to rip the tube out of her throat, it was painful and Hinata felt her throat sore and burning like she had swallowed fire but to feel the air run down her throat felt great and after a few shallow, weak breaths she took the courage to speak.

"Neji…"

"Shut up."

"Please…It hurts."

"I said shut up!"He knew she meant killing her.

"Why … a-are you with them? Don't you realize you're just another lapdog!?"

"I am not a lapdog, I came to them because I wanted to, they have what I want, and they promise to spill the very blood I want to spill."

"Why…why are you doing this…don't you realize what you're doing…what…this means to our clan?!"

"I do and I don't care."

"I do…"

"You do, huh?" Snorts the other. "You really are clueless and naïve Hinata. Why bother caring for people who hate you? Why bother trying to make things better for people who've hurt you. You get played by a fool over and over again! The clan couldn't give a shit about you, you'll see that at the first opportunity they get to be rid of you, they'll take it!" Neji shakes his head with disbelief. "You're so weak, so useless and illogical; you were never meant to be a Hyuuga."

"I know…but that doesn't mean I can't change."

"Our lives are destined; Just as I was destined to be a branch member and serve under you, a failure. If you fall, I have to fall too. I cannot change that, Hinata. This seal, the same seal you used against me, is proof of it!"

"You chose to do this…didn't you?"

"I…"

"To go against your father's wishes."

"My father hated you, all of you, I am just his living legacy!"

"It doesn't have to be like that Neji…there was not only hate in your father's legacy…"

"What do you know about it?"

"I have seen another side of you Neji…compassionate, loving, forgiving and caring, the Neji that was the outcome of love—"

"That Neji died with my father."

"That's not true. That Neji is there…deep within, through that hate of yours Neji-niisan."

"There is only hate, Hinata, be sure of that, or is this not proof enough?"

"I want…to mend that hate, I want…for us to be friends…I want our family to be…a family again…but how can I when you k-keep grudging, bury yourself i-in the past?"

Neji silently stands up and walks over to Hinata, and grabs her by the neck. "I don't care what you have to say to me. Your words mean nothing, they are nothing, Hinata." Hinata trembles, her face down like a scolded child, and Neji didn't take pity on the sight. "You are nothing, Hinata, that's why your words, your actions, your dreams and your wishes will never reach me, because they are _nothing_."

"They m-might n-not be f-for you, but they are f-for me. I might m-mean n-nothing to you…but to me…you're my cousin…and I care for you…" She couldn't see but he wasn't far from her touch so she delicately stroked his face.

"I don't need your pity or your love."

"But…I want to give it to you…you deserve happiness."

"Don't bullshit me!" Growls Neji and his grip tightens until Hinata can hardly breath. "You think simple words can mend my wounds, Hinata? Words mean nothing for me, words have been the weapon which I've been attacked constantly for years, words that have degraded me to nothing more but a tool for the main branch. Words are only a device for trickery to deceive and manipulate! You, Hinata, can't even mend your own, so don't try to heal mine with petty talk!" Talk was only for liars, fools and cowards.

"Words are indeed used for trickery...but you forget that talking is also the way for us to express our feelings...and Neji-kun, you are refusing to listen..." Chokes Hinata, Neji lessens his grip until he was only holding Hinata and his eyes was glazed with countless mixed feelings; anger, hate, fustration, confusion and inquiry.

"I will never understand you."

"Neji! Release her!" Orders the woman, the leader of the captives of the younger Hyuuga. Neji does so and gives the woman a grimace before he leaves, and the dreams came back for Hinata but this time, she did feel pain and screamed her lungs out in the process, and the screaming stopped when her throat was sore and her will died.

She couldn't hate Neji, no…she had tried many, many, many times, but it was impossible for her, because she knew the pain Neji had been through, the remorse of being unable to do anything to protect, to await uselessly for a decision to be made for a problem she had created and one his father had to pay up for, to be undermined and degraded by members of the main family and have a constant submissive devise on his forehead to remind him he is a slave.

She knew and she understood but the problem was that Neji wouldn't understand, he had been alone for so long, while he built an impenetrable forte, but inside he had buckled up his problems and feelings until one day they were used against him. But the thing all these years had been the fact that Hinata had forgotten that they'd been close once.

Hinata blinks when her name was called. She can't still see, but she feels warm hands on her, complete contrast from the harsh cold hands she felt for several days, and by the sound of the voice Hinata forces a smile. It was Kiba.

"Hinata, I'm so glad we found you…I'm so happy." He whispers and hugs her, Hinata tried to hug back in joy but her body was dead to her, and she remained in Kiba's arms as he carried her out with Akamaru. "I've found her, she seems to be partially okay…"

"She's nothing near okay, Kiba! She's in critical condition!" Screams another voice and Hinata recognized it as Sakura's, and she felt her strong, calloused hands touch her wounds that remained from Neji's battle and other new ones she wasn't aware she had.

"I smell the bastard…I'm going to kill him! He's trying to escape! Let's go Akamaru!" Growls Kiba and he leaves Hinata, who was now clinging to thin air, trying to get something for reality, and her hand was taken by Shino but she couldn't tell, she hadn't touched another person for a long time now and everyone seemed the same to her; just a soothing warmth.

"Kiba-kun…?"

"It's alright, Hinata-sama, we're all here for you. You're going to be okay." Shino reassures her and looks over to Sakura who was nervously biting her lip.

"We need to move her, my healing can only do so much in this situation." States Sakura to Shino, he nods.

"I'll take Hinata-sama back to Konoha, its unwise to remain in enemy territory."

"Okay. In that case, I'm joining Naruto."

"Do not let the enemy escape, Sakura-chan."

"Tch, wouldn't dream of it." She cracks her knuckles with enthusiasm and runs off.

"Shino-kun..." Mumbles Hinata weakly.

"What is it, Hinata-sama?" asks Shino when Hinata started mumbling something again, as at the same time he placed her over his back and dashed out of the cave, feeling Hinata's heartbeat lessen to a dangerous extent, but her words grow a little stronger. "Hold on Hinata-sama, hold on, we're almost there." Hinata tried to listen to Shino's soothing words but she felt weaker and weaker with every moment, she felt like a candle dieing with the blow of the wind and Shino's words were pulled along with the wind, his words grew further and further from her ears

"Shino-kun...Neji-niisan…where's Neji-niisan?"

"Hinata…" He knew Hinata had a good heart, he had seen her struggle and fight to try and be a good shinoobi and a teammate, and seeing her suffer was unbearable, especially when the subject was such a considerate, selfless one. Neji...why did she care for him? Neji who had hurted her more ways than one, Neji who despised her and hurt her...why was she worrying for him? The one who had done this to her! Shino couldn't understand, but then again, there were a lot of human emotions that he couldn't understand.

"Shino-kun...I...I...you..." Again being saved by her comrades and friends, why couldn't she hold her own ground? Why did she have to be so weak? Why was she always a burden more than an ally? She regreted it but at the same time...she was grateful she had her friends to pick her back up...that's right, every time she was sad, dissapointed or crying Shino, Kiba, Naruto and Akamaru were always there for her, always. She wanted to be able to do the same for Neji... that seemed like a really bad joke...but not impossible.

If there was one thing she would regret if she died was that she never got to be his friend. "I'm... sorry. I—"

"Hinata!"

**OooOooO**

Tsunade didn't know what to do. Things had gone from bad to worse to horrific and she was unable to do anything about it.

After Neji's bailing and Hinata's dissappearances it took little for the shinobi and Hyuuga to realize that it had been young Hinata who had helped the fugitive's escape, and Sakura had secretly confirmed the suspiciouns to Tsunade when sakura gave Hinata a set of heavy sleeping pills when the younger Hyuuga claimed she couldn't fall asleep, and when the sampling was spotted in the ANBU's blood system it made Sakura feel...betrayed. How could have Hinata done that to her? To lie!

But then again, would she have helped if Hinata had told her what she planned? Doubtfull, very doubtfull, but at least she would have avoided this mess from happening, but in that case Neji would have died.

"Are the Hyuga council still in their meeting?" Asks Sakura tediously, she hadn't seen Hinata since she had partially recovered and taken back to the Hyuuga compound-no, she wasn't allowed by the Hyuuga themselves for Hinata to have visitors.

Tsunade nods, they had been there for a few days now and Kurenai was there at the compound, as Hinata's master and care-taker she was the second closest person who was given permission to witness the decisions being take place, but it didn't really matter if Kurenai was there or not, she had no say in the decision and the wait was killing everyone, and Tsuande was at the limit of her patience of having Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru, Lee, Tenten, and Gai asking her questions day after day.

How many times did she have to say it? She didn't know what the hell was happening at the Hyuuga compound, but one thing was for sure, it promised not to be pretty.

Then, there was a knock on the door and the two women turned to meet with Kurenai's red, crimson, eyes, and by the look in her face Tsuande could tell she carried no good news. "What was their decision?"

"Hinata was trialed with treason." Manages to say Kurenai, her eyes darting off to some dark corner of the room to avoid the remorse and sorrow to show. "She was found guilty and the punishment seen fit for it..." She looks to Tsunade somewhat pleadingly. "Is death."

The room was wrapped in silence.

"Death?!" Chokes Sakura in pure horror.

Tsunade sighs. "It can't be helped..." Hinata did break the law and had helped a potential criminal escape, not only that, the secrets of the Byakugan had been ripped out from the poor girl, leaving most of the Hyuuga in a paranoid state for a potential attack. One simple act of mercy had unleashed hell over the young girl's shoulders. "I can't do anything." Growls Tsunade in fustration. Nothing...! There was little she could do for Hinata now. If there ever was a chance of helping her it would mean breaking the alliance with the Hyuuga, and Konoha was in great need of allies.

Hinata would die at the touch of sunrise, at the hands of her own family.

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TBC

**Thanks to you who reviewed and liked the story. Hope you liked this chap too, though I had a bit of trouble writing it at first.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you guys for liking the story and reviewing, you rock! I also have to give a little heads up for princess p, thanks for giving your honest point of view, I like people who arent afraid to say what they think even mentioning the things they didnt like about the chap (and the things they did like :P ) and leave their name behind :). Oh and to rosebund as well, i forgot to say so in the last updates, but thanks for being so freaking patient ! :)**

**Warnings: Gore, violence.**

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**Chapter 5**

How did one normally react when they were sentenced to death? Petrify in shock, quiver in fear, break in suspense, or freak out in horror? None of these were Hinata's case, the line of life and death had turned so thin and transparent to her that she couldn't care less. She was blind, the heir of the Hyuuga clan, the second most known doujutsu in Konoha. She was useless, weak, nothing. Her eyes taken by the enemy and left in the darkness, void of color. Her eyes were everything, now that she'd lost them…she served no purpose.

Death didn't sound that bad for her. On the contrary, she wished it. She didn't care anymore, she didn't care for her father's words, she didn't care for his harsh slaps, nor did she care she was being made an example of…at least she was going to be an example of something.

The night was long, and her own darkness made it much more painful and unbearable than she would have thought possible, the lack of light was…nauseating, and so sad. She loved her garden the different, vivid colors of her plants and flowers, how they bloomed for her, now, she couldn't be able to see them a last time. She whimpered, but no tears came out, but that didn't stop the grief. Turning blind was worse than death, especially for someone who depended so much on sight and loved the colors the world granted.

They were so happy, so joyful, so contrasting to her, but it made her happy to know that when she took care of them, she was enhancing their life and joy, to be able to protect something made her feel useful...and happy to care for something so delicate and beautiful and now...she wasn't going to be able to continue. She was going to die...and she knew no one would tend the garden, they were going to die along with her.

Then she wondered if she could at least touch them, they always did comfort her in their smooth touch, and as much as she wanted to just slip away and to the garden of the two families and her little green house she knew that this place was no longer her home, but a prison, so she did what any other prisoner would do, ask permission. "H-hello?" She calls out, arms stretched before her as she slowly stumbled her way to where she had memorized the door was, when she got no answer and she reached the soft wood of the door she tried again, this time a bit louder and knocking.

Again, no answer. Maybe they had gone to take a break...or something...but Hinata knew best that the Hyuuga would starve themselves first than leave a prisoner alone. Something...was very strange, but Hinata didn't pay attention at it at the moment and decided to wait until they returned, she was not, after all, one to break rules easily. She sat there, humming, soothing herself in that solitude, wondering what was going on with everyone else; Shino, Kiba, Naruto...she hoped they were going to be okay, especially Kiba and Naruto, they do always get in trouble.

She would have liked to have lived a bit longer, manage to see Shino become leader of his clan, see Kiba grow up and mature, and witness Naruto becoming Hokage. As appealing and happy as the thoughts were she decided it was best to ignore them, she was going to die, and there was no going back, and these thoughts were just making the mood gloomier for her, it was better if she accepted death just as it is and leave this life behind.

However, the young Hyuuga did think about her life, the past, everything that had led up to this end. Neji...oh, Neji, she hoped he was alright. He had finally made it, away from everything, finally free from his chains...good for him. Maybe in the next life they would be friends, and as much as she regretted her choices she was happy she made them. She couldn't save herself, but at least she would be able to save Neji.

_Have a good life, Neji._

Minutes passed, long, long silent minutes and no one returned, and Hinata grew wary of her wait, she didn't know how long she had until dawn, but she didn't want to waste her opportunity to see flowers just because of fear, so she silently walked to the door and slid it open, her heat drumming up in her throat and took her leave, high in alert if anybody came. She continued her path, no one interrupted her voyage over her memories when she had sight, as her feet guided her through the impenetrable dark.

The Hyuuga compound was always quiet, but tonight it was a particular sort of quiet, not the peaceful, usual silence but a forced, deadly silence that made each step sound like an explosion, and Hinata being blind as she was couldn't help to shudder and panic at yet another disqualified sense, therefore, relied completely on touch to guide her through the corridors. Everything felt so different yet familiar at the touch, the cold walls, the soft material layering over wood of their home, the cold floor, the dead woods surrounding it, and she realized how trusting was the world required her to be to guide her through. However, Hinata had been dried out of her trust.

A few more steps and Hinata stops when she feels something, no, someone in the room with her. The chakra was powerful and she could recognize it, but she had never been to good in sensing the enemy chakra so moved to calling out to whoever was out there.

"Father! Hanabi! Anyone!? Who is that?" Calls Hinata in despair, she is lost and terrified, something was very wrong; very, very, very wrong, and it terrified the woman to no end to not be able to spot the danger, but she could feel it, she could feel them! Cold eyes staring from some corner, examining all over, pale eyes that made her shiver wherever they landed, and a voice that later accompanied them, a voice she had learned to fear, hate, like and pity.

"Hinata."

Hinata gasps and turns to where she thought the voice was coming from. "Neji-niisan…" She manages to choke out, taking a few deep breaths before she could add something, anything, but she was scared what the answer would be. "Why are you here?"

Neji doesn't answer, making Hinata irk in suspense, await anticipation of an answer she didn't want, but she tried her best to look her best before him, and that was harder than it looked. She hears a few footsteps approach her and the younger Hyuuga panics at the heavy stomping and she backs away in that eternal darkness of hers until she trips on something soft yet heavy, making her fall harshly to the ground, where something wet splashed.

"I came to finish what I started." Snarles Neji.

It took a moment for Hinata to realize the meaning in those words, and when she did she couldn't help to erase her doubts by touching the lump that had made her fall, and at confirming her fears she crawls away, trying to stumble to her feet in horror, mewl gasps croaking from her throat.

It was a corpse.

Neji watches his blind cousin crawl away from the body, standing up to her feet before she set off for a run, slamming into the walls like a ping pong ball, in other circumstances Neji would have been extremely amused, but right now, right here, he could only stare before he followed quietly behind, gliding like a ghost over the bodies he had tried to stop him. None stood a chance, not even the great Hanabi or Hiashi. His Byakugan was still active, and he had seen Hinata exit her room, blindly make her way over to him, before she broke down in fear when she felt him on her, unaware that she had just walked through the quiet tomb of their relatives.

He finally caught up to her, she was lost in the Hyuuga main garden, moving clumsily over the tended garden, trying to search for an exit before falling harshly over the bushes, and flowers, which made bed to make her fall less painful, and Neji thought he would have to immobilize her, he prepared to pound on her as soon as she readied for another escape, but he saw this was futile when the girl herself stopped, her shoulders shaking violently as she remained on all fours.

"Why…?" She asks. "Why would you do this!? WHY!"

Neji stared at her, and considered her question, what should he answer? Why did she have that disappointed look when she heard him? What was she expecting?

"You could not understand."

Understand? Understand?! What was there to understand!? He had killed his own blood- his relatives in cold blood, after she had tried to grant him freedom from them, why did he return!? WHY?!. He was right, she could not understand Neji's motives for this; was he still under the control of the genjutsu? Was he being manipulated, was he doing this by his own free will? Which was it? She didn't know which one she wanted it to be.

Both were horrid, and for once in the whole night she was glad she was blind, she didn't want to know how Neji looked showered in blood, see his expressionless face as reaction of the act, the hate in them, and not be able to see when he gave her the killing blow, she hoped it would be fast and not drag like he tried to do last time.

She had tried to understand him, she had tried to mend his wounds, she had tried, but maybe that would never be enough, Neji was always going to remain a puzzle for her and it didn't matter how much she wanted answers, she wasn't going to get them. Neji's hate, Neji's confusion, Neji´s love, her weakness, her difference from the rest, the murder of her clan, she would never understand.

She turns to face her cousin, or at least where she thought he was, still on her back, leaning over her bent elbows, leaving him full access to give a deathly blow, and she knew it.

"I tried to understand." She whispers.

"Trying wasn't enough."

Before her sorrow could overwhelm her shock slammed her in the face when a kunai flew past her face, cutting her clean across her left cheek. Hinata makes a face and she grabs her wound.

Then another set of fingers reached out for her, broken skin contrasting her porcelain one, playing with her bandages covering her hollow eyes, and at the touch of him Hinata couldn't help and twitch when the memories of the pain inflicted by him relived themselves, she tried to push him away but the elder moved fast and steadily as his fingers dug into the skin of her jaw and chin and held her in place. Hinata reflexively reached out and grabbed Neji's shirt, curling the material between her fingers desperately, realizing he was damp with blood.

"A world without its moon knows of no stars or dreams but darkness." Says her cousin flatly. "A sailor without a compass; A leader that can know nothing but loss and doom. A leader without strength can not grant others strength. A soul without hate can not know of strength and discipline."

Neji pulled Hinata to him and then buried his palm over her stomach, making her let out a silent scream as she feel limp in his grasp, her lips quivering to show him the fear and pain her eyes usually would show. And Neji realized that he missed them, those white orbs that had looked at him with so many emotions, emotions he thought he would never see be aimed at him; compassion, love, comprehension and wishfulness.

He grit his teeth in anger, not being enough he chunks the skin on the inside of his cheeks. He was filled with disbelief that after everything he had done to her, he still didn't get those eyes raging with hate, only fear, sorrow and pain.

Emotions...they made everyone weak, and as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn´t void of them, quite the opposite. Trying to be heartless was easy, and ignoring the feelings of others was a bit hard to learn, and to ignore them a bit more, but what he had found harder through the years was to understand his cousin, the one he'd undecidedly attempted to befriend and despise.

Shinobi shouldn't have emotions, they made people weak, ignorant, insolent and less efficient, that's why Neji would make such a great ANBU, he knew how to control them, and had almost succeeded in killing them.

However...

Those same emotions that he despised were the ones she constantly emitted, and they were stronger than any weapon, more painful than any wound and bitter to him, and as if they were linked by some sort of invisible string her feelings traveled over to him, he did not show it, but he felt them and suffered her pain too, and he hated it, every emotion that awakened inside him was also because of her; hate, hopelessness, rage, sorrow...happyness.

Nonetheless, Neji learned that emotions didn't only make a shinobi weak, it could also make them stronger, one simply needed to know how to do it.

"How can you hope to be a leader if you don't have respect? You've been given a power, status and many, many other things, including beauty, and you lay them to waste." He brushes his fingers from her scalp down her long, dark purple, indigo hair, rolling some of the silky rays on his bloody fingers."Respect is a funny thing, people think they deserve it, but the truth is, they have to earn it." He tightens his grip on Hinata's throat to make sure she hadn't fainted and was listening to him, when the other let out a crude whimper he continued. "Tell me Hinata, how did you plan to change the Hyuuga, how did you plan to anything at all without respect? How do you plan on ruling if you are treated like a third-class citizen by your own family?"

Hinata gulped. "I don't know..." She thought she could figure something out, but she knew she wasn't as smart as Neji, neither was she stupid, and she knew what she lacked.

"I can answer that. With power." Hisses the other. "People think that tyrants are evil, however, I beg to differ, a tyrant is what needed most when harsh decisions are needed, a tyrant is not afraid to use his power to rule, a tyrant knows what he wants and does not falter, a tyrant does what's neccessary." He notices Hinata tightening her grip on his wrists and try to free herself.

Was he talking about himself? It would make sense, Neji had described himself in those words perfectly, meaning that Neji hadn't killed all of their family...there were still survivors. She swiftly smiles. Yes, he would make a good leader. "Don't be a tyrant...Neji-niisan, you're better than that." She freezes when she hears Neji laugh.

"I have no interest in that power, my interests lie in another matter, Hinata." He removes the bandages from her face and Hinata even in this state couldn't help to somewat feel self-conscious and somewhat naked to her cousin as he stared into her eyeless face. "You're weak…because you lack hate Hinata. You're too good, too soft and too naïve. You do not understand the horrors of life because you've knot experienced enough pain, so allow me to show them to you."

He takes another kunai and assaults the younger woman, pinning her against a tree with the sharp tip tickling the skin of her neck as she breathed hoarsely on his face, with little ease he took her shirt off, aroused little by the sight of his bare chested cousin he flipped her around and held her down while he buried his kunai into her back, making the younger let out suffocated screams of agony as blood started to spill. Neji didn't stop, and Hinata lost control as her little fingers curled on the grass and started ripping it from the soil.

"Kill me already!" She whimpers, Neji responded by teasing the knife over the throat, making her hitch her breath. "Just kill me!"

"Your not free to leave, yet, Hinata. Not until I say so. Death is for weaklings, and you're not a weakling, are you now?" Hinata didn't know if he was teasing her or not, she didn't care at the moment, her mind had been blinded by the horrid pain spreading like fire over her back and shoulders. "So are you a weakling!?" Hinata screams as the blade made contact with her skin again. "I expect an answer!"

"I don't know!"

"Wrong answer."

Another wave of pain, and Neji kept on looking for an answer, one Hinata knew he knew, because it was the thing he had been insulting her all along, it was a yes. She wanted to answer no, but the words couldn't come out because she knew that wasn't true. She was a coward and she knew it, she never understood bravery, or what was its origin, she never understood revenge, never understood Sasuke for that matter.

Revenge... The words sounded so odd yet so...right at this moment.

"Did you hear me, Hinata-_sama_?" Hisses Neji and removes the kunai from her skin and replaced them with his cold hands. "Did you?" She trembles in his hold, and shakes her head. "Then listen well, because I will not repeat myself!" His fingers pressed into her wounds and she lets out another moan of pain, she tried to hide her face in her arms but Neji took her hair and yanked it back enough so his lips grazed her ear.

"Until your eyes can see beyond the horizon, until your body knows only battle and you desire nothing else but my blood, then come for me Hinata. I will be waiting for you."

_Waiting...? Blood? Battle...?_

She heard people at the distance, sound, screams of confusion and inquiries playing like music to her ears. The touch of Neji slowly loosing its pressure on her before he flipped her around, and he pushed her back, a hand over her lips as the harsh layer of wood rubbed on her delicate, wounded back. "Strive for survival, hold on to life and cling to it desperately. Because up to this point you've been nothing but lucky, you can no longer depend on the trust of comrades and friends, the only strength you will have will be your own." He pressed harder to her, closing the gap between them. "Feel that pain Hinata, that scar in your back is my marking, my doing. MY scar upon your delicate, fragile body, to remind you of your weakness, of your uselessness and my hate for you." Hinata muffles out a scream at the pain.

Why was he doing this? Why...Why...To someone who had never hated, never despised and never retourted to violence Neji's behaviour was alien, or maybe she had been the alien all along...

"Remember these hands, the hands meant to protect you, as the ones who made your life a living hell." His hand on her neck tightened, promising to bruise, while the other moved over her side. "The ones who embarrased you, took advantage of you, broke you, crushed you..." There was a snapping sound and Hinata was in too much pain to acknowledge her broken wrists any longer.

"Please...stop." Sobs Hinata, Neji retreats and the girl glides to the floor, knees and arms wrapped around her bare, shaking chest._ This was a bad dream, this was nothing than a bad dream...please, let it be a dream, let it be a dream. Please. Please. Please...! _"Please... stop...Please..."

He kneels down over to his cousin, Hinata looked up at Neji pleadingly.

"I will be waiting. If you forget, I will go for that mutt and bug and after that, that fox-boy. Understood?" He whispers again. Hinata nods, and she tried to hide her face again but Neji took a handful of her hair and kept her face tilted upwards, inches from his. He was glad she couldn't see, it would have ruined everything, and he kept absolute silence before he returned to the matter at hand, he examined her wounded, broken cousin and couldn't help to feel horror.

And as unexpected and confusing like the rest of this mourning night, Neji cupped her face and kissed her lightly on the lips, deepening it as the broken girl whimpered into it, he retreats. "Hinata Hyuuga, if you were ever worthy of deserving that name, come and prove it to me."

And with those words he disappeared back into his world, the realm of shadows.

**OooOooO**

It had been three weeks since Neji, the murderer of the Hyuuga Main Family and Elders escaped and left without a trace to chase him by, leaving Hinata Hyuuga severely wounded on his escape. As if the girl didn't have enough broken bones already. Tsunade had never seen something like that, and it shocked her to see Hinata recover from them and be walking and training already, and when she tried to convince her to stop, the Hyuuga tended to ignore her.

Tsunade worried greatly for the girl, especially when she had gone through so much in such little time, she suffered physical and mental trauma, one she wasn't so sure she would be able to help with, and the girl wasn't being cooperative either, and it seemed whatever sanity Hinata still had left was fading, fast. The girl was still quiet, but it was no longer that sweet, comfortable quiet of a shy girl, no, now it was the quiet of a traumatized girl, which thoughts were now shrouded by a mist that hid the madness that went there. Tsunade could only imagine what lied behind that shell, what inhumane thoughts had taken over tender dreams and wishes the girl held.

Hinata now turned into the leader of the Hyuuga, having no one go against her and no one to undermine her, she rose to power with little trouble, Hinata was reluctant at first but seeing that there was no one to be able to calm the fright and madness rising from the Hyuuga's fears and paranoia, she took the place under one condition...

Gai's team wasn't told about the events, but they learned soon enough when whispers and chit-chat finally found their way, Gai and Lee were shocked and denied the words to the very end, meanwhile, Tenten was dead silent, she heard the rumors and as she had duplicated into another statue she remained there, before tears swallowed her eyes and she could find no comfort other than to cry. She blamed herself for everything, for not protecting Neji for not being there for him...for failing him.

Not only had morale dropped for the ranks, Tsunade had to waste particular amounts of money and soldiers to protect the Hyuuga compound where she knew needed protection after their secrets had been found out by the enemy, not only that, being one of the biggest families in Konoha and then be left to half from day to night had been a very shocking effect on them. The Hyuuga were frail just as their leader.

Everything was hell...

"Tsunade-sama..."

"What is it Shizune?" Asks Tsunade after a long silence.

"It's Hinata." She begins, taking her time to be able to come up with the following. "She -"

"She wants an eye implant." Interrupts Naruto, walking into the office.

Tsunade froze. "What?"

"It is best if you talk some sense into her Granny Tsunade!" Begins Naruto, dead serious, close by Shizune. "She won't listen to reason and she's not going to drop the matter any time soon."

Tsunade sighs as the smaller female walked between the two others and made herself present before the Hokage, followed by two other Hyuuga, telling by their bandage over their foreheads they were branch members, the survivors of the massacre. "As you have heard Tsunade-sama, it is how they say, I wish to transplant the Byakugan back into me."

"With what eyes?" Asks Tsunade carefully, dreading to know the answer.

"I've kept my sister's eyes preserved." Says the other, her hands clenching into little fists, a bit of remorse and repulse in her own voice, but she did't say any protests. "Please, help me."

Tsunade lets out a loud sigh and pinches her temples rather hard. "An eye implant is utterly dangerous Hinata, not only is the eyes the most delicate organ in our body, the operation has never been managed by us, except for the Uchiha who hold special rituals to accomplish them, and as you are aware, Sasuke has left the village."

"There must be some documentation of their procedures, archive, papers, that remain within the Uchiha complex."

"Hinata, please-" Begins Naruto but he was quickly signaled to be quiet by Shizune and Tsunade.

"The Uchiha complex has nothing but ghosts." Says Tsunade darkly.

"So does mine." Says Hinata bitterly, and Tsunade gapped at the sudden rash comment from the sweet, innocent Hinata. "Did Itachi Uchiha take all of them when he massacred them?"

"It appears to be the case."

"Then I will find him." States Hinata plainly, and Tsunade scoffs. Little, weak, Hinata Hyuuga vs Clan murderer Itachi Uchiha, she stood no chance.

"Hinata, don't be ridiculous."

"Ridiculous?" Hisses the girl. "I am the only leader my clan's got and I'm blind..._blind_! _That's_ ridiculous"

She hated being blind, she couldn't train properly, however, being blind granted her the opportunity to sharpen her other senses, her ears became aware of the sounds a kick, a punch and a kanai made, how sound could help her estimate things her eyes wouldn't have, how her feet felt the trembling of running, how the nature was disturbed by the humanity's rough infiltration. It was...different experience, but she'd rather have sight.

If they weren't going to help her regain it, she was going to do it, one way or another.

She was a Hyuuga after all, and she needed her eyes, her Byakugan, if she wanted to succeed, if she wanted to _kill him_! She needed them, she wanted them, she desired them, she required them to get what she wanted. It was a sick obsession that had started crawling in her, something she couldn't let go, a fixation that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't let it go. Her mind always found its way back to it.

She wanted one thing only, one: kill Neji Hyuuga.

The thought of him made her burn and cry, and with each stoke of pain she buried her palms harder and sharper into the doll, feeling her palms cry in agony until the doll was nothing but pieces with blood stains. The girl panted out exhausted, but as much as her body begged for rest she didn't cease to it. Now, more than ever she could hear her father's scolds, her sister's moves and Neji...the sight of him close to her face and how he'd taken her lips and kissed her. Disgraceful, she had had him that close...and she didn't-She unwillingly bites her lip in anger. Damn him!

Hinata lets out a sharp breath, composing herself and turned to look at the pressence that had disturbed her privacy. "Yes?"

The branch member with shaking hands walked to his now, new leader, bowing so low his nose almost touched the ground, and even though Hinata couldn't see him she sensed it and it caused her as much distress as it always did. She was no one to bow to, they were all the same as her, just as important, and she had tried to get that idea across, but the clan was full with paranoia and fear that they followed her like lost puppies.

Hinata knew she wasn't a good leader, but she aspired to change, that's what she had needed from the beginning, but the Hyuuga couldn't compare her to anyone or get choosy, she was afterall the rightful leader of the clan. She still showed compassion and love to those who needed it, but every day she found it harder to be kind, it was as if was slowly being drained from her.

"Hinata-sama, we've found him." The girl lets out a bitter smile.

"Good."

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**Hope you guys like it :) There will a time skip soon :O**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sup. Don't own Naruto. M rating for dark themes,violence and characters death. Thanks for support, enjoy!**

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**Lost in hell**

Finding Sasuke was one of the easiest things a Byakugan user could do, capturing him, however, was another thing entirely.

Byakugan was not the most powerful doujoutsu if you compared it to Rinnegan and the Sharingan, but it was the most subtle for espionage and disabling enemies, they took on a more sneaky approach, while the other two mentioned before were more on the offensive.

So when Hinata sought out the smaller Uchiha it took strategy, patience and knowledge to do it. Konoha wasn't built in a day. First, they split him from his group, immobilizing their chakra points when they were unaware of their threat when disguised as civilians. The redhead was the easiest, then the orange haired experiment, but the water nin; Suigetsu, was a handful.

His body being water in itself was not affected by the Byakugan fighting style, making them turn to another strategy entirely; mostly keeping their distance as the water nin had the advantage in taijutsu and kenjutsu.

So they had to poison his water resource, forcing him to remain at their mercy. Hinata didn't care who he was, nor what he'd done, he just needed Sasuke, so when she managed to corner the Uchiha and fiercely battle him with others, they succeeded in taking him in.

"I have no interest in killing you or bringing you back to Konoha, that's Naruto's job. I'm here because of the knowledge you hold." Sasuke had been deliberately taken back when acknowledging his enemy, he fought back the urge to scoff; Hinata Hyuuga, the little, shy heir of the Hyuuga clan was now before him, acting the complete opposite, and to his shock, blind.

Hinata had Sasuke drained off his chakra and his chakra flow blocked, having him, in eloquent terms, as her 'bitch', and to her surprise she was liking it. "I know you Uchiha transplant your eyes on each other." Sasuke already knew where this was going and couldn't help to give a little sadistic smile.

"Why would I want to do that?"

Hinata was short in temper, she had spent months searching for the youngest Uchiha member and survivor of the Uchiha massacre, and time was precious to her. But tonight, she planned to take it easy on the Uchiha.

"I heard about your clan's massacre." No reply. "I heard it was horrid, no one killed beside yourself, left alive to live with this torment…watching, dreaming how your family is butchered before your eyes like pigs while you can't do nothing." Hinata clenches her fists. "You … understand my pain, my hate."

Hinata didn't hesitate to answer. "I don't feel pain, just hatred."

It really didn't matter if he felt some sort of compassion for her. She had to eventually learn the hard way that life was not easy. She had it coming, someone who believes that they can live by sentiment and dreams, who only sees light, is foolish to believe they can continue to live like that.

The world is a dark place, and either you adapt or die.

Going back on the matter of the transplant, Sasuke knew little of it, but then again he had been well aware of it as a child. First learning of it when he went to the Nakano Sanctuary, and the second time it had been an eaves dropping on a conversation Itachi and Shisui had in secret. It was also one method well known when Madara took Izuna's eyes for his own, and even more infamous when his own brother, murdered Shisui and did the same.

As little as Sasuke knew on the matter, it was enough for him to comprehend and join the dots, and he knew Karin would be capable of performing such operation. However, he was not someone who was ever willing to lend a hand, he had only shown that sort of emotion to those closest to him…or those who had been close with him. Now, he had betrayed them, so why should he with this one.

He was not going to bargain.

"You help me and I you." Sasuke looks at her with perked interest. "You give me my sight back, and I give you a shot at getting your revenge." Sasuke remains composed but deep inside he was raging to know, he obviously knew what she meant, but he wasn't going to show any sort of weakness before his captors. "The location of Itachi Uchiha."

The Hyuuga heiress watched the cold mask of the Uchiha remain, but even without her eyes she knew she had clicked the right buttons, so she was not surprised when the other agreed to her deal, and within the next month she was wearing a headband over her eyes.

It had been a painful process but she wasn't going to get picky now, especially when her body was pumped with excitement to recover her sight back. She wondered how everything would look, she was curious to how her sister viewed the world, and maybe understand why they never…ended up getting along, what had separated them.

With these eyes Hinata didn't only expect to find answers, but also find conclusion to most of her desires.

"Hinata-sama…"

"What is it Tokuma-kun?" She asks without turning, there was no point at turning to look over, it was pointless.

Tokuma struggled a bit to speak, and Hinata immediately knew what was troubling him. He was unhappy with letting the Uchiha go, but as Hinata had said, Sasuke was not her main priority, and she was also one of to her word. When her operation was over, she had her men knock both prisoners unconscious and leave, a note left behind to give the Uchiha what he wanted.

If she was going to miss anything it would be the beauty of the voices, distinguish the tones, the pitches and the emotions that altered them. It said a lot about a person more than their physical appearance.

"It is done Tokuma, the Uchiha is gone." Hinata cponcludes, making the man take a hint that he should not question her, but he didn't stop.

"We should have at least killed him."

"No. Sasuke's destiny is not ours to define, he is not our problem, he's Naruto's. We however, have a problem of our own."

_Destiny_…She laughs bitterly, how…ironic.

Her sight did come back, but when she was introduced back to the world of colors she noticed that it was different. The colors did not have that vivid shine of joy and vitality she remembered, on the contrary, they were dull and sad.

They were void, dim, lacking…dead.

Never had she been more disappointed, and she wondered if this was how Hanabi had seen the world. She knew it was biologically incoherent, but that didn't make her perish the thought.

The world was similar but so very different, or perhaps…it was her who had changed. Either way, she was lost in this hell.

This time, she set her saddened feelings aside and trained. Trained until her palms bled, her bones broke, her body gave away, and mind had nothing but murder in mind. As shattering as the experience was she could feel herself grow stronger and stronger, until she was the ghost of a statue.

The change in her was eminent and noticeable, and there were many who tried to pull her of this vice, but many failed. But Kiba, Shino, Akamaru, Naruto and her clan mates remained by her side, either if it was pity or duty or bonding or understanding, Hinata didn't know.

She just knew she had to find Neji before he decided waiting was not enough and he hurt those close to her, and Hinata came to realize that sharing such bonds with others was weakening, and this was the reason why she ended bonds with many outside the clan, she tried ending her friendship with Naruto, Kurenai and her teammates but it was to no avail.

War and battles raged in the shinobi world. She witnessed several deaths and suffered horrific wounds, but she prevailed, she knew she couldn't die before killing Neji. It kept her alive, her anger and rage increasing without limits.

Poor and unfortunate were those who had her as opponent, she would not grant forgiveness, that was something to be decided in their death.

But when she wasn't dominated by a fire, she was dominated by sadness; so many people died, so many she knew and had tended with love. But it was most devastating when it was her clan's men, she couldn't take to lose any one. However, finally seeing her clan as one, made her rejoice. They were no longer slaves and master, but a family. For once. Finally. Brothers and sister together. Blood standing by blood.

It broke her heart to know that it took so much death for it.

Neji…The Hyuuga Prodigy…The Murderer of the Hyuuga Clan….Traitor of Konoha….the bastard had so many names that it was impossible for Hinata to look at him as her cousin anymore. Now, he was a target for her.

Not once did Neji leave her mind. He had made sure to remind her mentally as well as physically—the scar, the mark he'd left behind, was proof that this was not a dream, nor a nightmare, but hell. Those scars did not only break her skin, it had broken her trust and self.

And Hinata learned her lesson.

It didn't matter how storng she was, war devastating and Hinata had faced a few near death experiences but today, right on the battlefield when swarmed by the army of Zetsu's, Hinata made the mistake that left her open to an attack and cost her right shoulder when defending an unconscious Kiba.

And was to be pierced by another clone when suddenly the creature stopped and blood exploded from his mouth, as he feel, Hinata saw a figure appear behind him. He could tell it was a male by the shape of his broad shoulders and flat chest, but his identity was hidden behind an ANBU mask and heavy cloak.

Hinata cleaned the blood that had managed to choke its way out of her mouth, and she activated her Byakugan again, feeling a sting in her lids due to its overuse in the war, to find another pair of Byakugan eyes meet hers.

Before she can even attack, the man turns around and sprints away the battlefield, Hinata takes little to follow him, not being aware that she was getting too far from the battlefield, where she had managed to kill a few in the way and get a few cuts through her figure, into a desolated area, ignoring the cries of some calling her back.

The place to anyone would appear to be empty but Hinata found her target with little trouble and threw and explosive tag, anticipating her prey's move she placed another explosive tag on the landing area. Anyone else would have been blown to bits, but this person was no ordinary shinobi.

He had many tittles: ingenious, genius, prodigy, murderer and…cousin.

"Face me!" She shouted to the ghost standing on the highest branch of one of the trees, looking down at her, before he took a step in the air and allowed himself to fall, landing with a loud thud before straightening himself out.

Nothing was said between them, Hinata for one was overwhelmed by her emotions. He was here in the flesh, and she couldn't help to feel the memories of that night drown her. The blood, the pain, the betrayal and the anger.

She hated him so much it even hurts, so when he decided to speak, she felt her blood boil.

"You've grown."

"Don't talk...Don't you dare!" She growls and throws herself over, attacking fiercely, clashing with each other, being at an obvious disadvantage due to her disabled shoulder which gave the male the opportunity to take her in his hold, pulling her functional arm out of the picture and shoving her harsh against a tree.

The younger Hyuuga growls in pain and anger as she felt the tree bark harshly scratch her face with every attempt to release herself from Neji's hold.

"You've improved, but remember Hinata, so have I. If you want to kill me, you'll have to do much, much better. That act out there was pathetic, if you fall to such a weakling; you hold no chance against me."

Hinata crushed her heel on his toes and slammed her head against his mask, hitting his lower chin, before she twisted around and kicked him in the ribs, but he caught her leg, kicked the one of support and with his other hand crushed her to the ground by her chest.

Pain hits her like a set of shockwaves.

She was depleted of energy but just the feeling of him fueled her and with her momentarily freed hand she attacked again, Neji took possession of it, and moved so he was now sitting on top of her. Hinata pries her legs around him and forced him to lean towards her and when he lightly lost balance of his grip she slipped her hand away and managed to block one of the chakra flow on his arm, but even that sucked her remaining chakra so she settled for pulling his head down, yanking his long hair and bite his ear without mercy, planning to rip it off.

The taste of blood filled her mouth and her other finger tried to rip the mask of him and bury her fingers into his eyes, but when she failed she decided to poke him hard in the throat, making the elder gag as she summoned up her remaining chakra and hit his chest.

Neji slaps her hand away, retaliates by sitting up, burying his fists against her abdomen and sits back down, forcing Hinata to release him before she takes a handful of her hair and hold her head back, making her mewl in pain.

She tried to struggle again, but her cousin kept her under him, watching as she fought futile, already weakened by the war and empty of chakra. But he no longer looks at her as if she were a threat but something completely different. She was utterly different from what he recalled of her, mentally and physically and his eyes linger.

It was not his first time possessing a woman, but the same rush he felt with them, stroked him again, but with a force that made him hold his breath in anticipation and admiration.

"I hate you!" She screamed, over and over again, those words soon grow insufficient. "Bastard!"

His eyes dart back to hers. "It was about time."

Hinata didn't know if that had been mock or something else, but as soon as he released the hold on her, not to gently, and prepared to leave, she could only feel a void grow inside her. She just had him! He was going to get away again!

But she was too tired so when he did, she only managed to roll over and stretch her arm over, watching him walk away. She demanded for him to come back and face her, the thought of living and knowing that she had had him in her grasp and slipped away weighed heavy on her.

Then Neji stopped when he heard her again, her voice threatening and cold. "I'll hunt you down! Even if it costs my life, I will have you pay for what you've done, murderer!"

"Then, catch me…if you can."

And he's gone.

Hinata wakes up at the sound of people screaming. "She's alive! She's still alive! Get a medic!"

Hinata was being dragged by other two wounded shinobi, as she regained sense of what was going on around her, the woman forced her weak feet to work again and pulled her arms away from the shinobi who insisted on carrying her, but Hinata insisted she was fine, marching to her tent, where she allowed herself to collapse on her knees.

Hands on her hair in despair as the images of the dead on her way burning in her mind, the emotional slap of finding Neji again, and the anger of having failed all combined and crushed her.

She didn't tell anyone of Neji for the following days…or were they weeks…months? She didn't know but she didn't speak about the matter to anyone.

But after that day, things turned fiercer and deathlier than before, especially when the revived legendary nin started making appearances. At the beginning they were a handful but nothing to worry about, but then…Madara was reported and from there it was hell.

Death tolls were horrifyingly high, and the young Hyuuga noticed their numbers drop drastically.

Then one good day, her worst nightmare came true; Takomu, Ko, Hoheto, Akamaru and Kiba…had died, along with their squad. Overwhelmed by the enemy and killed without mercy.

There was no body to bury, nothing….and it didn't stop from there.

She remembers crying a lot in silence at the news, Shino finding her in her tent and hugging her in grief as they both tried to calm their sorrows, but it did nothing more than enhance them. Her hands brought him closer and closer, as if trying to disappear into him. She recalls noting how broad Shino's shoulders were, how toned and tensed his muscles were, how tall he was when her face only reached his chest, and how deep his voice was.

When did he change so fast?

Before she could answer that herself they kissed, both shy and unknowing of their act, no real emotion in it but a sort of twisted comfort. But the woman could only remember the bitterness of each other's lips from their tears.

"Shino…I saw him." Confesses Hinata in one of their secret meetings, Shino lifted his face, and the heiress was unable to read what was going through her teammates mind, but she knew that the pregnant silence between them was not a good sign.

"Hinata-sama…forget him."

"I can't just forget him! He has to pay…for everything he's done to me…to us!"

"Hinata-sama…"

"You don't understand.…Neji…Neji—" She couldn't bring herself to say anymore, but Shino knew that was his cue to act.

Hinata got news that made her insides rot. Neji's body had been found. It wasn't shown to her, but it was burned along the rest of the dead recovered, but Hinata still didn't feel okay with it, something…just…didn't feel right.

He remained in her mind, in her thoughts, in her dreams…he wasn't gone. He couldn't be!

When the war ended there was hardly any joy. Too many had been lost in the war too even dare a smile slip their lips, success meant nothing, as many felt they had failed, as they returned to their home land to a place which held only ghosts of the people they usual saw every day and now were long gone. Never to return. Kiba, Lee, Akamaru, Sasuke, Tenten, Choji, Kurenai, Asuma, Tsunade…and countless, countless others.

Many were left scarred, others tormented, others traumatized, and others in a depression so deep into the rabbit hole it seemed impossible to pull them out. Hinata was one of them, if not a little bit of all in one.

Whatever childhood she had had been battered into pieces.

Her clan was at the edge of extinction and there was little she could do, especially when most were orphans and she was in no condition to care for them, instead, Naruto, now the new grieving Hokage made sure to make an orphanage and help the children as much as he could.

Neji…Neji couldn't be dead. She couldn't believe it. It was a lie, it had to be. She just knew it! No one believed her, no one heard her, no one helped her, and eventually she was deemed mad like Shino and many others by those who did not remember a time where there was a raging war.

It was hard but Hinata eventually managed to grow through the nightmares. Shino was always there, and when Shino had nightmares, she was always there. She didn't fear the darkness but she considered it a worthy opponent to watch out for, not because of the darkness itself, but what might come out of it.

She tried adapting to a new life, putting up a pace for what normal might be…after so much time in violence it was odd to grow out of it. Especially when her normal lifestyle had crumbled and the people in it were gone.

It was when she was looking through her old room that nostalgia really did hit in, everything about the place made her ache and feel consumed with sorrow. Her flowers were dead, like everything else.

She packed whatever she could before moving to Shino's home, taking one of her favorite plant books before she noticed something slip out of it, she leaned down to pick the paper up, looking at it curiously before she lets out a loud gasp.

_'Time's up, Hinata.' – N_

She dropped the book and little paper along, falling back until her back crashed on to something hard and solid, but too soft to be a wall, but before she could take a grip off her shock, two large hand clasped over her eyes and mouth, and a set of lips tickled her ear as a husky voice spoke.

"Hello, Hinata."

* * *

**TBC-**

_So whatcha think? Love it, hate it? Please review! (:_

_Im one evil bitch, I know ): but it was necessary. Things will get better... maybe. _


	7. Chapter 7

_Hey guys, I'm sorry for making you wait. Blame my AB (Author's block) :P I did have this chapter planned out but I didn't know how to make it all come together. Okay, about this chapter; I like it but as it explains a lot of stuff, and unlike the last update, it has a lot of the second protagonist/ antagonist of this story ;). I hope I don't confuse you... more than I already have lol_

_Warning: Strong language, violence. _

_Also, thanks to all of you; your support and reviews, believe it or not you made me smile, but as I had no idea what to answer, so...I decided I should just grant you your wish: Next update ^^_

* * *

**Threat and Conflict**

She knew these hands, they were much like her own but different in their own way, yet she could smell the blood of her people he shed in her presence.

_Neji..._Such a simple arranging of letters conveyed so many meanings, definitions and emotions.

Rage hit in, Hinata opens her mouth to let her teeth bury themselves over the calloused hands of her cousin, holding harshly on to his arm as she pushes back, forcing his cousin to collide harshly with the wall before she slammed her head back against his chest, his slight grunt of pain fueling her to continue.

Neji's other hand moved to take Hinata's jaw and forces it open, allowing himself to run free of her teeth, hand bleeding, then tried to lock his arms around her neck and submit her, but Hinata slammed her elbow into his rib, making him wince in pain and with that Hinata swirled around and with Byakugan activated she readies for a Gentle Fist strike.

It's slapped away and Neji counters with his Byakugan ready. She was slightly disappointed but not surprised, he was a genius after all, so she attacked next, hardly giving time for him to think out the strategy between her harsh blows. The collusion of their gentle fist set off slight explosions that sent gush of air. They focused; blocking and deflecting at the same time until they both finally decided to attack.

"Secret Technique; Pressure release!" The same pose, same eyes, and with one thrust forward they hit each other at the same time; the chakra accumulated in their arm flows until it hit their target, sending them back at the explosion caused by the clash of their chakra. Neji flips over and lands on his feet, while Hinata crashes against the wall, the thin fabric allowing her to break through into the hall where he picked herself up fast.

Dust and debris feel from her room and Neji comes out. Hinata takes her position as the other claims his pose, warning his incoming attack as he shot forth. At first Neji had the advantage of using the small spacing against her, but Hinata was faster and managed to block his moves.

She kicks him flat in the chest, sending him flying into the dojo where they both had practiced with Hiashi some time in their life. The difference between Neji and the ground was big and would have broken a civilian's bones, but Neji was not average, not even for a shinobi, and recovers in mid air and lands, he turns to Hinata who jumped after him. Neji takes out a few kunai from his pouch and throws them, Hinata predicted it so and deflected them, however, the last kunai thrown she took it and threw it back, making Neji jump back further from her landing place.

With raw wrath raging in her veins Hinata attacks again but this time Neji had already predicted the move and hits her in the stomach, his hand following to throw some of the dirt into her eyes and ending it with a grand finale as he pushes both of his palms onto her abdomen with a strength that sent her to the ground.

Hinata quickly recovers but as soon as she did, she collapsed to her knees. The sweat from her forehead had mingled with some of the dirt thrown at her before and was now a layer blocking her sight, when she tried to remove the insulting mix it only worsened the pain in her eyes. Hinata gets back to her feet, knowing she couldn't give the enemy the opportunity to beat her in such a disgraceful position only to find herself stumble at the unleveled ground and confusion of her once again blindness.

She blinks and sees the faint shadow of the male drawing closer and closer. She had little time to improvise.

She looks around and her arms reach out, someone looking from the outside would have thought they had won this battle, but what was really happening was that Hinata was introducing herself back into the world of darkness once again. She stretched her arms to acknowledge her balance, and turned her head to listen to the sound of air _woosh_, and slowly did she acknowledge she could still understand this world without the need of sight and remembered what had captivated her from this darkness in the first place.

Neji watches rather surprised as his cousin recovers her balance and takes a different pose before him, tempting him to attack. He complied eagerly,obviously underestimating the improvement in his cousin. He was greeted with the surprise that the woman easily avoided his attack and with quick thinking did the Trigrams positioning and within a blink of an eye, she was hitting him mercilessly, Neji at first was able to block and counter a few but it was not enough.

Hinata was once again upon him, her palms headed for his chest. When he moved to avoid the strike he failed to spot that Hinata had tricked him and with one move she kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing to the dojo's wall, trapping him, and with little restraint blew her hand forth, promising to destroy anything in its way. He avoided it avidly before he takes her arm and twisted it painfully around her back and forced her against the wall and trapping her with his body.

They bore their eyes at each other, their chests heaving in exhaustion, before Hinata tried to wiggle for freedom, and at her caging she clenches her jaw in anger before the oldest of the two takes her chin and forces her to look at him, but she averts her sight, unable to come to acknowledge this man. Or even give him the pleasure of watching the sorrow in her eyes.

Neji slightly chuckles at her stubbornness. "You've impressed me."

The words barely seem real to her and she can't help to let out a few tears out. She didn't know why, too many emotions were raging together; confusion, anger, sadness, and…twisted joy. The prodigy felt the woman tremble in his grasp and looked at the tears come out with surprise.

"After all this time…you still cry. I thought you'd run dry." He said almost…soothingly, cleaning one tear with his thumb.

Hinata clenches her eyes shut; the tears and his touch felt like acid. But it was true, she was surprised she could still cry after everything that had happened. Hanabi...her father...Kiba...Akamaru...the Clan...the clan... She feels her muscles tense up, she couldn't cry, not now. He…the murderer of her clan was closer than ever. The origin of so many horrors and sorrows of her life was inches away from her.

"Shut up, _murderer._"

She pries herself off from him, falls to the ground and kicks his legs from under him, and when the other collapsed she mounted him, rapidly hitting his remaining chakra points and without mercy she readied for the deadliest attack, ready to make his heart implode and she watched her hand go ever so slowly in its path. Nothing of what she was living at this moment felt true or real. Her eyes linger to watch the eyes of his tormentor for a last time, lavender, much like her own were looking up to her.

The white orbs that she remembered to be empty, and then full with hate, held something that she hadn't seen before, her eyes unfocused from his gaze and takes his whole expression in, watching how the cold, usual mask he wore started shattering, revealing the person behind it. And she saw it all; sorrow, emptiness, loneliness, sadness, yearning, doubt...

Hinata stops her attack, inches from the male's heart. Making the prodigy let out a gush of air, one he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Why did you stop?"

"I don't know..."

"What do you mean?" Asks the man, as equally confused as the heiress herself, but her eyes were fixed on Neji, wide as plates as she took his factions in; He looked so old… so alike yet different from her father's memory. His face having faint wrinkles on the corners of his eyes, nose and mouth, and she traced them with her fingers. Yes, this was Neji, now a man in her eyes. A man?

She stops to actually look at her own hands. With a bit of fear she reaches up to her own face and starts feeling up her textures. Her skin no longer felt vigorous or life full, but rather rough and cold. A hand through her lips, her hair, her body—she was no longer the little girl she thought herself to be.

How much time had passed? To her they were just days…weeks. They had been just weeks at the very least!

Neji just stared as his cousin examined her features—ones he considered to have turned more beautiful with time, completely different from the young girl he had quarreled all those years back. However, the shock in her face made him realize that time had become irrelevant to her.

With her eyes blank, lost in some sort of world within her own sub-consciousness and shock eminent in her face, she blinks, her wet eyelashes letting a few more ghosts of sorrow slip by before swallowing hard at the realization of reality.

Neji kept quiet at her epiphany. Had she not been aware how long its been? Almost ten years since the killing of the clan, a little less when she last saw him. Neji however, didn't go one day without watching her. It was interesting, hypnotizing, and sad. It was a painful process of a sun flower slowly get lost in the darkness and eventually start rotting.

"Why…why aren't you dead?" She finally whispers, hardly audible.

"Did you really want me to be dead?" He ventures. He knew well enough that Hinata hadn't fallen for that petty trickery from his friends, an attempt to make her forget him. He felt flattered that Hinata had reached the point that people had to fake his death to make her forget him.

There was a long silence to which Neji watched the long fangs of his cousin's hair serve as curtains for her eyes, but he could see her lips tremble as she wondered for an answer herself. Then she finally lifted her face and their eyes meet for the second time today, and Neji awaits for her answer, trying to keep calm as he looked into white orbs much like his own, going through layer upon layer upon layer of her being.

"No..." She mumbles. "I wanted to be your killer. It could only be me...just me."

Neji slightly smiles. "Me too; I wanted you to be my killer."

"Why...?"

"We agreed upon it...You defeated me." A fatalistic promise, but that had been the only reasons he kept himself alive. No matter how bad the wound, how weakened his mind and body were, or how impossible the odds were, he always prevailed. He wouldn't admit it in the open but the promise he'd made to is cousin all those years ago still remained in his mind like he remained in hers.

"You look tired...have you not slept well?"

"There was not a day or night you didn't hunt my dreams and reality, Neji." She responds, pungent. "And I still don't understand your reasons for your actions." Her fingers curl into a fist. "Will you tell me why?"

"No."

"Then you'll die and leave me with doubts." She says, frantic.

Neji laughs, it had no humor in it. But he couldn't help to remember when they were children; She always had questions and he always had the answers, but would never give them. It was a fun game back then, especially when she was easily made upset with simple teasing. "So be it."

"Hinata-sama!" Neji heard the words faintly come behind the walls of the Hyuuga complex, but when he looked at his clueless cousin he knew she was still oblivious of the person within the complex searching for her.

Then something inside him raged, a fire that had recently started and one he no longer had control over it. He knew it was wrong, everyone had told him so. He remembers when they were small children all those years back and he'd seen Hinata for the first time, he'd been captivated with that petite, innocent figure and when he told his father his thoughts the look in his face was one a father gave his son when they speaking non sense.

Back then, Neji didn't understand that desiring their cousin to be more than friend and family was wrong, well, among branch members and main houses-as the branches were regarded as dirt, even if they were the same blood.

And as Neji turned older he came to acknowledge that Hinata would probably never be his. Never. However, that was before; What about now? His desire had only increased through the years, but what about her? His cousin as predictable as she was, her feelings were an enigma to him, which only worked for him to grow more infatuated.

After what he did, where did they both stand?

Tenten had once identified these sort of situation as "One-sided love" when she described the relationship between Lee and Sakura, a relationship she did not appreciate and slightly envied. But Neji wouldn't know how to call this, he well knew this might be one sided, but his desire for his cousin no longer was a level that would be considered love, but something else; Obsession? Desire? Infatuation? Longing? He didn't know.

Whatever it was, Neji no longer cared. His eyes flutter to focus on the lips of his cousin and he wonders if they were as soft as they had been all those years back. He wanted to know. Before he could stop himself, Neji slides his hand over to the back of the woman's head and pulls her down, a cautious handful of her hair in case she decided to attack him again, but he was pleased that when their lips meet, nothing happened, and when he deepened it he was ecstatic to see the youngster mimic his movements.

Hinata was confused. She didn't realize he was kissing her until much later on, and she was kissing back, it was like she had done with Shino; reflexive, an instinct. Before it had been a desperate attempt to try and save what little remained of her sanity, that was with Shino, with Neji it was as her sanity was being drained.

She clenches her fingers around his shirt, trembling violently as his other hand slithered up her sides and embrace her, sending shivers that forced her to break the kiss. Neji took the opportunity to move, making the two of them sit, pushing Hinata against the wall, blocking both of her exits as he claimed her lips for himself. She tasted like cinnamon, which made him internally grin-she always had liked cinnamon.

They break apart, look at each other, expression unreadable, and when he tries again to kiss her she attacks, but Neji was fast and with a lot of trouble he managed to pin both of her hands to the wall with his own, fingers intertwined. He tries to look into her eyes but is unable to do so as she turns her face away. He smirks bitterly; if her eyes weren't clouded with fear it was pity, and if it wasn't sorrow it was hate.

Pulling both of her hands into one tight grip, he cups her face with his free hand and force their meeting.

"I hate you…" She manages to whisper, lids falling in shame. He couldn't understand how his insides could logically hurt so much, not even the deadliest wound had made him feel like this. Only Hinata.

He knew he deserved those words. He thought what he had done all those years back was horrifying and her pained expressions, her screams of agony and her sobs, haunted him all those years. Not once did he forget, and he would never forgive himself, but he was afraid she would, and at the same time he wanted her forgiveness. But he would not apologize, even if it had been necessary, he wouldn't apologize even to sooth them both. Never; His pride would never allow it.

Looking back, he didn't really know why he did what he had done.

He hated her, yes. But he also cared deeply for her, it was…a twisted fixation that only grew during the years as the girl—now a woman—swarmed his mind. Then…he remembered back then the sympathy, the mercy, the fear and smiles, while he was what she was now, dominated by sorrow, rage, anger and vengeance.

She was so beautiful back then, and even more now, but that wasn't his reason for action. No...it was the future that had begun to worry him, the future and how his little cousin didn't fit in it. She was too innocent and she needed to learn. And by experience he learned that hate, rage and anger were three emotions that if applied together correctly could enhance the strength of someone.

He remembers the thought of loosing Hinata had been unbearable.

But now he wondered; how would have that once innocent little girl have managed through the war?Would she survive? Would she had died? He wouldn't know, what's done is done, there was no gap for doubts now. Now…he had to die…at her hands. That was the last step. With one last kiss he backs off and releases her hands. She doesn't look at him nor says anything, and he knew she knew as well, so he just waited, but when the wait became too much to bear he spoke.

"Go on, kill me, you've proved yourself to me."

Silence.

Hinata sat there mind flooded with so many questions without answers, so many, many doubts she wanted answered. She couldn't kill him yet, not yet...but then...when would the right time be? However, there was also another matter bothering her: He was all she had left from her previous life, her only family, her subordinate, her only cousin…the only man that had been in her mind for several years, haunting her...

Neji cups her face. "Hinata-_sama_, don't falter now." He thought emphasizing on her status would make an effect, when it didn't he moved on to something else. He stops when his cousin cups his hand with her own and looks at him with a heartbreaking expression, and when she spoke he couldn't believe the words coming out of her broken lips.

"Neji..." She whispers and leans over to his touch and places a butterfly kiss on his palm. "I wish...things would have been different. Maybe in some other time, another life our lives will bond in a much tranquil manner than it did in this one. I guess this is...goodbye."

"Do not doubt. I will always be there to _haunt_ you, to _watch_ and _protect_ you." He didn't know if it was a promise or a threat. Maybe both? "I will always be there, even as an obstacle to overcome."

"Hinata-sama?! Where are you? Hinata-sama!"

Neji grits his teeth, he knew that voice, it was the sound of the Aburame heir calling his Hinata and he was much closer than last time. He'd always felt some sort of respect; he was a good friend to Hinata and an educated fellow, but then...Neji stopped feeling like that when the Aburame no longer was a friend of Hinata's, but something else.

A fire rises in Neji, not hate, nor rage, but something very, very, very different; jealousy.

He looks from the corner of his eyes how Hinata perks with energy at the voice, her eyes worried and lips desiring to call out to him. He had never understood jealousy, he never had anything that made his anger rise at its loss, anything worth his interest. But here he was, bickering at how Hinata paid more attention to this man over him.

He snarls as he takes Hinata by the hair, making her wince in pain but she didn't cry. "Listen, and listen carefully, Hinata. You wasted your chance to kill me so I hope you like looking over your shoulder because that's what you will be doing for the following years."

"Those _days_ of waiting for you are over." Spits Hinata. "It should be you watching over your shoulder from now on, Neji."

Neji grins deviously. "Don't disappoint me then, because next time I will be giving your little bug friend my _first and last_ visit."

"Don't you _dare_ hurt him!"

"Or what? You'll kill me?" He snickers evilly. "You're incapable of even that. I'm right here and you still couldn't accomplish it. I was wrong, you're still not worthy of being a leader, Hinata. You're still pitifully weak."

"You heart-lacking monster!" She whispers and she tries to fiercely attack, but the other caught her wrist, and both in the demise of their weakened state could only do as much. "Is there no end to your vice?!"

He releases his hold over her hair and lets her collapse tiredly before him. "I will only stop until y_ou make me stop_." Hinata understood his innuendo.

"Why don't you just put an end to me already!?" She demands, tears of anger and frustration falling off. "What's wrong with you!? If you're not going to let me kill you, then kill me and be done with it! Stop playing around with me! Die already, heartless bastard!"

"Let myself be killed? Ha...little Hinata, is life so invaluable to you now that you think one can just take it?" Neji shakes his head and laughs. "Things are earned through hard work, and I will not grant you my life easily. If you want it, then make it yours, then, you can do whatever you want with it." He leans over and strokes his fingers through her silky long hair. Technically his life did belong to her, but that was before when they were master and slave, now they were equals. "Kill you? If I do that, then tell me, where would the fun be? Who would entertain me? Hmm? Who's going to stop me if I want to kill...say, Shino Aburame? Everyone thinks I'm dead, don't they."

He knew what he was saying were terrible things, but how else would he fuel Hinata's anger and determination to go after him? And from the looks of it, it worked as Hinata yells and tries to attack him again but fails. He retreats quite pleased with himself.

"Oh, one more thing..." He trails a fingernail down her cheek. "If he touches you again I will break him."

She didn't understand why he'd done what he did before; neither his words and actions from then and now, nor why she'd faltered. Then with one blow at the base of her neck she was knocked out.

* * *

TBC-

Errr...Yeah, I guess that's it! I know nothing much happened, but next chapter will be better ^^ I promise! Please review :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The constant silence of the Aburame Clan compound was broken by an elevating argument that was trailed all the way into the heir's room, where he and his lover argued at the top of their lungs. In his room, where Shino Aburame believed to be hidden from unwanted eyes, Hinata clutched at his arm ever so desperately while her mouths spoke what he believed she had forgotten in time. To his horror, that same sickness had returned if not grown worse. He felt guilty, he should have been more assertive of the symptoms of madness in its early stages.

Yet, as much as he cared for his dear Hinata. He couldn't take it anymore. He was tired.

"Shino, please! Please believe me!" She cried out when he snatched his arm off her grasp, taking his hands to his face and hide in them. They remained in silence like that. Him mourning and her begging. Until finally, Shino spoke barely above a whisper, but in his voice laid nothing but utter bitterness.

"Hinata, I've had enough."

Hinata didn't like fighting Shino but she would have her voice be heard. She wouldn't be ignored again like she was when she was a child. "I saw him Shino. He's here! He's here in the village! You have to help me!"

Shion's shoulders shake and in moments Hinata can hear his laughter, the most saddening and painful sound she heard. That laughter meant his resignation, and as he finished laughing with tears streaming down his face Shino took off without a word. "Don't walk away from me!" "Shino! Shino!" She ran after him only to loose sight of him as soon as he reached the woods. But she didn't stop, she kept on running and running until she could no longer force herself to continue, she had reached her limits.

She was alone and lost, confused and angry and disbelief; Shino had left her, he had left her like everyone else who deemed her mad. Her beloved friend, adviser, comforter and...lover, had left her side so easily. She remembered a time when Shino had promised to help, vowed to be at her side, that's why she came to him today and no one else, because Shino had promised.

He broke his promise and broke everything he stood for within Hinata. She felt empty like a void as her rage and hate evaporated and were replaced by something else, something she hadn't felt in a long, long time. She felt her chest burn as she fought the tears back as she realized she was truly alone. Always had been, always will be. Except for Neji, he would always be with her; For ever.

"Forever, my dearest Hinata." She could hear Neji mumble, some mockery in his voice, from the darkness of the woods. She lazily followed where the voice originated from.

"Is this how you always felt, Neji?" She asked as she clutched her chest as if to try the ache. It only added to her agony. "Does loneliness hurt so bad?"

"Burns doesn't it?" He whispered, teasing her through gritted masochist teeth. Hinata nodded, slowly cleaning the tears in her eyes while Neji appeared behind her like a second shadow, he ran his hands over her frame before leaning in to kiss the back of her head. "Funny how scum always make your heart weep, isn't it, Hinata?"

"Indeed." She whispered and in a blink of an eye, Hinata turned, her hand swirling behind her with a kunai, a hiss sound emanating as it cut through hair, headed for Neji's head, to which the elder Hyuuga barely avoided it. He retreated, a faint red line over his pale cheek, just over his smug grin. Hinata's face remained blank. "I'm sorry I never realized your true pain. I'm sorry I couldn't help. I'm sorry I couldn't ease your heart."

"Saying sorry will never make things better, Hinata." Growled Neji, blood dripping down his cheek and run down to the contour of his chin. Hinata lowered her kunai, her eyes dropping as a sad smile crossed her lips.

"I know."

Neji didn't know if to be put off by Hinata's calm demeanor at this moment, usually she would rage at him and would stop at nothing until his heart stopped beating. His fingers curled into fists and he ran for her, as soon as he moved he felt something sickening within him that made him stop and fall to his knees in confusing, blinding pain. What was happening to him?!

Hinata dropped the kunai where blood and poison mixed together like now they mixed in Neji's body. She towered before the writhing elder, her eyes empty behind heavy lids. She ran her slender fingers over Neji's factions, taking some of his blood in her hand-she would have thought there was no more space for blood in her hands, but Neji always seemed to find a way to push her to her limits.

"Here I avenge my kin, blood, family, honor and clan." She whispered. Neji coughed blood as he tightened his grasp on his shivering stomach. The end was close. Darkness, coldness and silence started embrace him, until Hinata feel to her knees in front of him, her hands cupping his face endearingly.

"You finally did it." Half glad and half despairing. "You're strong enough to go on without me."

"Strength comes in many forms, Neji." She explained. "You destroyed my sanity and my will, but granted me power and hate; Power that I only needed and wanted to kill you and hate that ceased to exist when I came realize how lonely I'll be without you haunting me. Now, as you depart, you leave nothing but an empty shell of what used to be Hinata."

The despair and horror in Neji's eyes was evident, he shook his head. "That's not true, Hinata. You've gone all this way. You have to live!"

"For what?"

"For Shino, for Naruto, for your friends! Think about them." He stammered, but Hinata wouldn't hear him any longer. She had decided.

"I'm done thinking about others."

"This is not what I wanted, this is not what I wanted for you!" Neji stammered. His mind raging with questions of what had gone wrong when he had for so long believed he was doing the right thing, when he believed everything was going as planned. It was only now that he realized he'd be wrong all along. So wrong. He tried to do something, anything to stop his leaving, but his body had gone numb and his mind was slowly loosing its coherence.

"But it's what I want."

Neji at the edge of his life took Hinata's hand, and forced their eyes to meet, where she saw the little boy she'd meet so many years ago. So innocent, so young, so arrogant and so, very warm. Oh, how she wished she could turn back time and freeze time in that place where there was no pain or loss for either of them, only pure, blissful ignorance.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Choked Neji, his eyes half-lidded, his voice breaking as he uttered those words over and over again. "It all went wrong, I was wrong. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Saying sorry will not change anything, Neji." She said, and as soon as he heard those words, he quietened and forced a trembling smile on his lips.

"You're right. Farewell, Hinata-sama."

"Goodbye, Neji-san."

Then, Neji's soul left his body, and his corpse gave in into her arms, eyes wide with tears slipping out as he was laid while his curse mark faded from his forehead. Freeing him from his cage, finally setting him free. Hinata closed his eyes and remained by his side for moments in silence. She didn't know why, but she felt she needed it. To enjoy those moments of peace, to savour that feeling of completion, to embrace of epiphany. It didn't matter. She had ended her torment, avenged her family, but had also killed the man she couldn't live without.

She pulled out a small container with greenish liquid, undid the lid, its strong bitter smell making her scowl. She didn't think she would be using it in other than Neji, but then again, when do things ever go according to plan? She looked at Neji one more time before she drank all of it, cringing as she felt it burn down through her throat and spreading through her insides. She yelped in pain as she feel to the ground, finger nails digging into Neji's body for some of comfort.

The pain eased slightly and she met her forehead with Neji's. "I hope we meet again in better circumstances, Neji." She kissed his cold lips before she laid her head in his chest. It was comfortable and still held some remnants of his corporal heat, warm unlike the cold that was slowly overcoming her numb limbs. She suddenly grew very tired and she didn't fight her lids falling and welcoming to darkness.

Before she'd feared it. Now, it was welcomed.

* * *

Hours passed until the two Hyuuga's were found. Shino pushed his way through, unwilling to accept what his bugs whispered to him until he beheld the sight itself. He shook his head in denial still as he knelt next to Hinata and took her in his arms, pressing her tight against his chest, calling her back to the world of the living. But no matter how many tears he shed, how many pleads and prays he gave, everyone knew there was nothing to be done.

He kept on apologizing over and over again but his words were only greeted with dead silence.

Hinata was gone.

Shino was taken away, his cries of despair reaching everyone still, so the body could be taken for burial. Naruto carried the small frame in his arms, tears silently falling down his face. His tears were not of sorrow but of joy, for Naruto was glad that Hinata had found the peace she so desperately wished for. He could tell, by the smile on her dead lips that she would have it no other way.

"Sleep well, my friend. May we meet in another life, a much peaceful, happier one."

She was buried with her kin, embraced by the earth and surrounded by the flowers she so meticulously cared for in her youth and had made her company through the years, the flowers that would now guard her tomb for the years to come until they withered in time and everything would be forgotten and fall into the nothingness of mortal life.

Shino's guilt never lifted; a fact he didn't share with anyone but the darkness of the night when he mourned and cried. He became a very broken soul, and if not for the love of his family and friends, he would have followed after Hinata's ghost, who constantly reopened his old wounds. He married several years later to one of the citizens, she was kind, caring and beautiful but she would never understand Shino's pain. They had several children which he learned to love and adore with all his might. As the years passed, Shino kept watering the flowers on Hinata's tomb, and when he no longer could his sons went, and when they no longer could their son's would and so on, and so on. Thus, Shino died with the hope that Hinata would forgive him.

As for Neji, his existence and name was never marked in any stone or paper, thus what memory or knowledge of him died with Hinata, and those who burned his corpse and threw his ashes into the dessert, to be nothing but be part of sand, forgot for his name bared more pain than comfort.

* * *

Thus it was then in several centuries, in a world far too changed to be called one and the same to the one of the past- A world where woodland was replaced by massive metal cities and peace ruled all the nations- where the stories continues. In the crowded city of Konoha where people walked back and forth by each other without a care for one another that two people exchange glances with one another from all the multitude; A woman with long, indigo blue hair and eyes as beautiful as the moon and a man with hair black as night and eyes cold as ice.

As if in trance, he stretched his hand towards her, scaring her at first for his fast approach. "Yoshimuta Neji."

The woman smiled warmly and sheepishly took his hand, shaking it vigorously and confidently. "Fushida Hinata, a pleasure to meet you."

The man gives her a wolfish grin. "The pleasure is all mine, Hinata-_sama_."

Two individuals who, in normal circumstances, would have never met.

But this was no normal circumstance

However, that story is for another time.

_Finis_

**Thus, my friends, the story is finished. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did writing it. This is my first finished story in ff (if you count out the one-shots :P) so you can imagine how excited I am atm. Nonetheless, thank you for your support and I hope this chapter was of your liking. If you have any comments, do make sure to let me know, even if its to criticise go ahead I am willing to listen to your thoughts of this story. I may write another Neji/ Hina story in the future, thought I can't say for sure. Farewell :)**


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